It was seven o’clock at night–exactly dinner time. As usual, the restaurant Fragrant Pot, which was situated at the end of a one hundred foot long alleyway, was already bustling with noise and excitement.

The kitchen of the restaurant was in full swing. Steam and the aroma of various cuisines pervaded the surroundings. Within the restaurant, the waiters tasked with taking orders were busily doing their jobs; those in charge of serving customers were also bustling around, and the ones who were tidying up the tables and chairs were doing just that. They were completely mixed in with the customers.

Apart from the fact that it was quite clean, this small restaurant wasn’t remotely similar to a top-class restaurant. The reason for the restaurant’s popularity was mainly due to the fact that the boss had poured his blood and sweat into managing it. In addition to this, the meals were cheap and the flavor was quite decent. The majority of people who had eaten here became returning customers. This was why the restaurant was incredibly crowded with people whenever during their daily meal times, especially at night.

In contrast to the bustle of the first floor, the second floor of the restaurant was relatively quiet. A number of private rooms could be seen on the second floor, separated by room dividers and green plants. When seated upstairs, one could even see the distant Huxin Park through the window.

At this moment, within a secluded private room facing a window on the second floor of the restaurant...

A man and a woman were currently seated across a table from each other. They remained silent–causing a strange atmosphere to pervade the private room.

The dishes had already been served earlier and were just sitting there on top of the table. However, no one had touched them.

The man appeared to be more than twenty years old and wore the most ordinary of t-shirts and jeans. He was quite handsome and possessed thick eyebrows along with large eyes, looking quite similar to the Hong Kong celebrity, Luo Jialiang. In comparison, the woman was dressed in an extremely meticulous manner. She matched her black Chanel silk gown with a pearl necklace. With her locks of long, raven hair and her beautiful face, she appeared elegant and dressed in good taste. It had even caused the waiter who served the food earlier to be unable to restrain himself from taking a second glance.

Apart from the aroma of the dishes on the table, the fragrance of top quality perfume which permeated from the woman’s body could also be detected within the private room. But to the man, the scent of the perfume was unfamiliar.

“We haven’t met for a month, yet you’ve changed your perfume?” The man smiled, raising his eyes to look at the woman before him. He paused for two seconds before solemnly saying, “Jiaying, there’s no need for you to use perfume. You smell the best after you’ve taken a shower with scented soap...”

Seeing that the man had broken the silence, the woman also withdrew her gaze from the treetop in the distant park outside the window. She gazed seriously at the man sitting across from her and hesitated for a moment. “I... actually have something I want to discuss with you today!”

“What’s wrong?” As the man spoke, he had already picked up his chopsticks. As per usual, he helped the woman to her favorite seasoned stir-fried pork strips and placed it into her bowl. “Let’s talk as we eat. I was waiting for you just now. The food has already become slightly cold!”

“Let’s break up...”

The man’s gentle and kind personality allowed the girl to summon her courage all at once. She immediately expressed her thoughts, not caring about the consequences in the slightest. No matter what happened, this woman knew that the man sitting before her wouldn’t do anything to her. The dramatic affairs between a large number of couples after breaking up would end up becoming a crime/action movie. The minority would even transition into a horror or even a disaster film.

However, the man currently sitting in front of her, from when they had met until now, for the entire three years they’d been together, had never once raised his voice at her. Because of her understanding of the man, the woman knew that even if she were to propose them breaking up, the man would never do anything to her. Thus, the outcome of the break up today would only be a literary film.

After she finished, she gazed at the man’s face. She had already prepared excuses to give him prior to this. However, what she didn’t expect was that when he heard the words ‘break up,’ his facial expression wouldn’t change in the slightest. He didn’t appear shocked, nor was he stunned. There was no sadness, no heartache or hysteria. He only froze mid-motion for a brief moment, halting his actions of helping her to some food. Following this, the man placed the food into his own bowl.

He calmly ate his meal, then shot a glance at the woman before speaking in an indifferent tone, “Okay! I agree!”

The man’s indifferent attitude caused the woman to let out a sigh of relief. At the same time, her pride as a female caused her to feel slightly disappointed, even a tiny bit angry and unresigned.

Could it be that this man had feigned affection towards her through all these years? Or had he never truly loved her to begin with?

A woman’s heart was unpredictable.

“I hope you can forgive me!”

“It’s fine. This is probably because we’re not destined for each other. Today is your birthday. Initially, I wanted to give you a surprise. but it seems like there isn’t a need for one!” The man was still calm. He ate his meal as he spoke, seemingly indifferent about the situation. “I never expected that you’d be the one to surprise me instead!”

The woman was not the least bit interested in the birthday surprise the man mentioned. She only stared at the man with a judgemental and discerning gaze. “Do you know why I wanted to leave you?”

“That’s no longer important...” said the man calmly as he sighed. He cast a gaze towards the woman. It was difficult to make out even the slightest bit of sorrow on his face.

The woman glanced at the man as she shook her head. “My best friends from the past are now either driving a Mercedes-Benz, a BMW, or living in villas. If they’re not out shopping, then they are either indulging themselves with beauty treatments or doing yoga. Each one of them is living a satisfying life. I don’t want to become a faded old woman by the time I turn thirty, still thinking of how to pay the house loan on a small house with you every single day, living frugally to pay for the children’s education, or sending the elderly to the hospital...”

“So this is like what the female guest said on ‘If You Are the One’?[1] She would rather cry in a BMW than laugh on a bicycle?”

“That’s right!” The woman fell silent for a few seconds before nodding honestly.

“However, I’ve never taken you on a bicycle ride before!” The man gazed solemnly at the woman. He earnestly corrected her, “I let you ride an electric scooter! It’s environmentally friendly, convenient, and can even do a three-hundred-and-sixty degree spin!”

Even now, this man was still able to have an untimely sense of humor? He really hadn’t changed at all...

Nonetheless, the woman did not laugh.

“I’ll be thirty in a few years. I’m not young anymore. I want to seize the chance while I’m still relatively young to find a reliable man. I’m not a woman who can undergo hardships and struggles with you!”

“I can tell!”

“Perhaps our meeting back then was a mistake!” The woman stood up and grabbed her bag, preparing to leave.

“I already ordered the dishes. As this is probably our last time eating together, just treat it as a farewell dinner. Don’t waste it. Just leave after you’ve finished...” He lifted his head and glanced at the woman. She hesitated for a moment and then sat down once again.

The woman half-heartedly moved her chopsticks. In actual fact, she didn’t eat much at all. However, the man was heartless; he ate two bowls and finished more than half of the food on the table. In the end, he paid the bill and left.

Upon departing from the small store, early evening had fallen and the lanterns were beginning to light up. The two of them stood outside the restaurant before courteously splitting up.

The woman walked towards Huxin Road at the other end of the alleyway. Unexpectedly, the man also walked towards the same road.

“Yan Liqiang, we’ve already broken up...” After taking a few steps, the woman turned her head and spoke coldly to the man who was trailing after her.

“Miss Lu Jiaying, I believe you’ve mistaken my intentions. I’m going to take a car!” smiled Yan Liqiang.

“Isn’t your electric scooter somewhere in the storage station?” Lu Jiaying scrutinized the man with a grudging gaze.

She knew that when they came here to eat ordinarily, Yan Liqiang would always drive his electric scooter. Once they had finished eating, he would leave in the opposite direction of the alleyway. The only difference was that she had always left together with this man back then. Today, however, there wasn’t any need to do that anymore.

“I want to use a vehicle today!” exclaimed Yan Liqiang, shrugging his shoulders.

The woman grit her teeth and didn’t speak any further. Yan Liqiang also didn’t utter another word. Both of them walked towards the mouth of the alleyway.

By the entrance of the alleyway, a seemingly thirty year old man stood by a shiny black BMW5 as he posed like a car model and waited for the woman to emerge. Upon seeing the woman walking out with Yan Liqiang, he was slightly taken aback and once again shot a glance at the woman. In return, she gave him a meaningful gaze. After understanding the woman’s message, a reserved yet arrogant smile emerged on the BMW man’s face. He then proceeded to move towards the two.

“Greetings, you must be Yan Liqiang. Jiaying has talked about you before...” The BMW man made a victory stance as he arrogantly stretched out his hand to Yan Liqiang. “Jiaying told me that you were doing quite well in a mobile phone company. You’ll even be promoted to an assistant manager in the near future! You’re also preparing to buy a house on a mortgage...”

It was unclear as to whether the man’s tone was praising him or taunting him instead.

However, a radiant smile emerged on Yan Liqiang’s face, without the slightest trace of frustration or dejection. He extended his hand and vigorously clenched the BMW man’s hands. He swung it as though two troops from the Red Army had joined forces at Shanbei in the previous years, filled with excitement, passion, looking magnanimous, and as though relieved from a burden. “Hahaha! That work was only temporary! It was quite fun. However, I have to leave soon. Tonight’s the flight, so it will probably be difficult for us to meet again in the future. I am entrusting Jiaying to you. Jiaying is a nice girl; she’s gentle and kind. I hope you can take good care of her from now on. Oh right, I suppose Jiaying has never told you before. Never feed her iced watermelon when it’s hot because she gets headaches easily. Also, remember to boil water with molasses and fresh ginger whenever she isn’t feeling well...”

The victorious smile on the man’s face froze slightly. He then eyed the woman in suspicion. The woman was also puzzled, as she originally believed that Yan Liqiang had followed her because he felt unresigned and intended to duke it out with her new boyfriend. This was an act that every man would have done, but she had hoped that Yan Liqiang would back out after seeing her new boyfriend. However, what she didn’t expected was that Yan Liqiang’s current behavior was completely unlike a man who had just been dumped.

“Rushing to your flight? I’ll drive you to the airport then. After all, it’s quite far from here to the airport. Jiaying said you normally drive your electric scooter...” The BMW man continued to act ‘courteous.’

“There’s no need. My ride is here...”

As Yan Liqiang finished speaking, a poised, luxurious, silver Rolls-Royce Phantom came speeding in the distance. It came to a direct stop right in front of the BMW man’s car.

The Rolls-Royce’s license plate was from Shanghai. Even the license plate number appeared to be incredibly domineering. As the Rolls-Royce came to a halt, a seemingly forty year old driver dressed in a well-ironed Armani suit as well as a beautiful blonde haired and blue-eyed woman simultaneously exited the car. She wore high heels along with golden thread spectacles as she carried a briefcase. The woman owned a pair of beautiful, bewitching legs and seemed as though she was an astute, capable, and experienced model of an office lady; she was akin to Iron Man’s secretary.

When the Rolls-Royce Phantom came to a stop, the passers-by on the street were already turning their heads in order to look.

The driver wearing the Armani suit stood before Yan Liqiang and graced him with a humble bow. He then said, “Young master, the plane is ready. It’s waiting for you at the airport!”

Under Lu Jiaying and the BMW man’s wide-eyed and stunned expressions, Yan Liqiang spread his arms and affectionately embraced the beautiful female secretary. “Claudia! It’s been a while!”

“Young master, getting a flight plan approved for private planes in China is too bothersome!” exclaimed the beautiful female secretary in chinese as she shook her head after breaking out of Yan Liqiang’s embrace. She grumbled softly, before directly taking out a document from the briefcase she held. “Oh yeah! This is the medieval castle that was on sale in Europe which young master wanted me to pay attention to. I’ve prepared a set of statistics. There are a couple of nice castles in France. Young master, do you want to take a look? If you require it, I can immediately arrange for the property rights lawyer to make the relevant arrangements. However, young master, buying a real estate like a castle in France contains a number of law procedures. It requires at least a few months to get it done...”

“It’s alright...” Yan Liqiang only took a quick glance at the document, before he shook his head. “This was originally a gift and a surprise. However, it seems that they aren’t needed anymore. My father was right, I’m too naive...”

“Additionally, I have prepared the necessary materials for the soccer club in Europe that the chairman wanted to purchase.”

“Okay. Let’s look over them on the plane...”

After he finished, Yan Liqiang walked towards the Rolls-Royce. The driver in the Armani suit had already advanced two steps, personally and respectfully opening the car door for Yan Liqiang.

As he was about to lower his head to enter the car, Yan Liqiang suddenly stopped. He turned around and glanced at the pale Lu Jiaying, who was gazing at him with an astonished expression, as well as the completely dumbstruck BMW man. In the end, he uttered, “The both of you really are a perfect match for each other. I hope that the two of you can live to a ripe old age together.”

Following this, Yan Liqiang entered the car. The pretty woman named Claudia quickly glanced at Lu Jiaying and smiled. However, she didn’t speak and also entered the car. Finally, the driver in the Armani suit also moved back into his driver’s seat. Under the group of dumbstruck gazes, the stunning Rolls-Royce Phantom quietly passed through the street outside Huxin Park, and vanished within the traffic. Leaving behind a vexed woman on the verge of collapse and a completely withered man who was struck dumb as they stood at the mouth of a hundred foot long alleyway...

As he sat in the luxurious Rolls-Royce Phantom, Yan Liqiang gazed at the passing scenery outside with a strange expression. Neither the driver nor the beautiful secretary beside him spoke.

It was to be expected of a luxurious car.

For most of the drive, the cars on either sides of the road would keep their distance in a meticulous manner after noticing this car. As such, the driver didn’t even have the need to sound his horn. At the traffic lights, no cars dared to cut in. They were afraid of scratching the car as that would be a tragedy.

Even those who seek compensation from deliberate car crashes were intimidated by this car, that could easily be accounted by several million yuan, let alone average car owners.

As he reminisced about the times when he had been honked crazily by cars whilst on his electric scooter, Yan Liqiang reaffirmed one fact–being wealthy in this world was great!

Within twenty minutes, the Rolls-Royce had already left the lane a hundred feet behind and was about to enter the city’s highway...

Yan Liqiang was still waiting. He knew that woman would definitely call him.

As he sat within the silent vehicle, the singing voice of the Phoenix Legend abruptly surfaced within his head.

“The boundless horizon is my yearning. Flowers blossom at the foot of the green mountain. What kind of rhythm is the most touching? What kind of singing is the most pleasant...?”

As Yan Liqiang took out his Huawei phone, a blinking screen with an incoming phone call from ‘Wifey’ could be seen.

This ‘Wifey’ was naturally Lu Jiaying. Yan Liqiang had yet to even edit the contact details saved in his directory...

This call was completely within Yan Liqiang’s expectations.

He took a deep breath before handing his phone to the beautiful secretary beside him.

The beautiful secretary nodded as she accepted the phone that Yan Liqiang passed to her and pressed the hands-free button.

Lu Jiaying’s sobbing voice could be heard through the phone. “Liqiang, why did you deceive me? We’ve been together for the past few years. Am I not good enough for you? It’s my fault, I’m just an ordinary little woman....”

The beautiful secretary glanced at Yan Liqiang. Yan Liqiang nodded his head and the female secretary began to speak in English.

Lu Jiaying was a graduate from a foreign language college and had been working in a small foreign trading company in the city over the past few years so understanding a little bit of English was not a problem to her.

“How do you do, Miss Lu Jiaying? I am young master’s personal assistant, Claudia. I’m in charge of young master’s trivial matters. How may I help you...?”

The sobbing on the other end of line immediately stopped. It seemed as though Lu Jiaying didn’t expect that the call would be picked up by this woman named Claudia.

“Uhm... where’s Liqiang? I would like to speak to him...”

Lu Jiaying stammered in English.

The beautiful female secretary answered in a deadpan voice. “You’ve wasted too much of young master’s time and he was extremely disappointed. He initially thought he had found his true love upon returning to his home country. However, it seemed like you weren’t the right one for him. So Miss Lu, please do not waste any more of our young master’s time. His time is very precious and shouldn’t be wasted by doing anything worthless. Should you feel that you’ve been hurt and require compensation, you may take this to the court. Our international lawyers will be more than happy to handle it at any time.”

“Please let me speak to Liqiang. It’s my fault... I...”

When Claudia saw that Yan Liqiang had nodded, she hung up the call and returned the phone to him.

Yan Liqiang accepted the phone and immediately deleted Lu Jiaying’s contact details before turning his phone off. In the end, he leaned back in the seat weakly as his chest rose and fell with the most painful exhilaration.

The Rolls-Royce left the highway and directly headed into a street not far from the high-speed railway station before pulling over.

The high-speed railway station in the suburbs of New City had just been fixed the previous year. Other than being slightly more congested at the station, the surroundings were fairly quiet.

“Please remember to look for me should you require this type of service in the future. Thank you, boss...” The blonde beauty beamed happily as she spoke in Chinese. Prior to leaving the car, she spontaneously leaned over and gave Yan Liqiang a peck on the cheek before taking off her glasses. She let down the hair that was styled in an up-do and let it drape over her shoulders. She opened the car door and retrieved a leather suitcase from the boot of the car. After putting on her jacket, she made her way towards the high-speed railway station.

The driver glanced at Yan Liqiang through the rearview mirror before starting the car again and rejoining the flow of traffic.

“Not bad, little fella. You have a ruthless personality. You’ll definitely achieve great things in the future...” The driver dressed in the Armani suit who had been silent throughout the entire journey finally spoke for the first time, and he had even complimented him.

Yan Liqiang forced a smile, but didn’t speak.

...

After half an hour, the Rolls-Royce pulled over at an intersection of the Old City District. The roadsides in this area were filled with willows and the national highway was just up ahead. As he stood here, he was able to see the distant lights of the nearby university campuses.

The road here was very secluded; cars rarely passed by and this area wasn’t being monitored.

Yan Liqiang exited the car.

The driver dressed in the Armani suit exited along with him and replaced the front and back car plates on the Rolls-Royce with extraordinary speed before returning to the car. Within a blink of an eye, he was already at the national highway and had disappeared from Yan Liqiang’s line of sight.

Yan Liqiang’s lonely figure stood in a forlorn manner under the lights of the lamp post by the road, it was as though he was a petrified sculpture. He stood blankly for more than five minutes before fishing out a pack of cigarettes from the pocket of his shirt and lit it up.

Under the dim light, a desolate figure emanating an aura of ruthlessness could be seen shrouded in smoke. A number of cyclists passing by were daunted by this scene. In fear of being robbed, they pedaled their bicycles as fast as possible.

The cigarette butts on the ground piled up one after another.

The event that had occurred on this day seemed as though it was a scene from a movie. That’s right. Everything was directed by Yan Liqiang himself.

He had already guessed that the reason why Lu Jiaying wanted to meet with him on this day was in order to break up with him. For the last two months, it had become increasingly difficult for him to reach Lu Jiaying on the phone. Even if he did, they would hang up after exchanging a few brief lines. Towards the end, Lu Jiaying had even came up with various excuses in order to avoid his calls and the couple barely met anymore. During that time, he already had a feeling that Lu Jiaying was hiding something. It was only until a few days ago when he was out to meet his client that he witnessed the sight of Lu Jiaying clinging onto the BMW man as they came out from the Hilton Hotel. It was only then that everything became clear to him.

After asking a friend who worked at the same company with Lu Jiaying, Yan Liqiang uncovered the truth. That BMW man was some bullsh*t director who had just joined Lu Jiaying’s company. He came from an impressive family and seemed to be worth a few millions dollars. As he drove his BMW on his first day to work, he noticed Lu Jiaying’s beauty and began to pursue her. However, Lu Jiaying quickly sunk into the man’s pursuit. The two of them hit it off and got together in a short period of time.

During a time where love was fickle, a person’s betrayal was sometimes as simple as this.

In the past, Yan Liqiang had never thought that Lu Jiaying was this kind of person. However, only after this had happened did he realize how young and how naive he was after all.

Yan Liqiang had already predicted what Lu Jiaying wanted to discuss with him during their meetup today.

Claudia, the foreign beauty who dressed up like the female secretary of Iron Man, was a foreign student that he had hired from Shanghai.

Claudia was British and was preparing to return to her country. She was only earning a mere few hundred yuan per day from working nightly in a bar. Thus. Yan Liqiang had paid her 4,000 yuan, which was more than what she would earn in a single week. After knowing the role that she had to play, Claudia happily accepted his offer.

The Rolls-Royce had been rented from Shanghai and the cross city service costed 15,000 yuan per day.

The car plate of the rented Rolls-Royce would expose him, hence Yan Liqiang personally gave the driver another 6,000 yuan and requested that he temporarily change the car plate.

There weren’t many Rolls-Royce in this city. Furthermore, their operation was carried out during the night. Replacing car plates would, at most, take a few hours. Under the temptation of Yan Liqiang’s money, the driver agreed to it.

He didn’t have that many lines either and had practiced them beforehand; these lines were short and had no flaws. The Armani suit he wore was his normal uniform.

After spending 20,000 yuan, Yan Liqiang finally sought revenge against his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend on this night, giving them an unforgettable memory which would last a lifetime.

20,000 yuan wasn’t a small amount to Yan Liqiang; it was equivalent to a few months of his wage in his current job.

Was it worth it?

To some, perhaps it wasn’t worth it. But to Yan Liqiang, it was very much worth it.

In ‘Shaolin Soccer’, Stephen Chow had once said, “If a man has no dreams, how different is he to a salted fish [1]?”

After watching ‘Shaolin Soccer’, this quote revolved incessantly within his mind. In Yan Liqiang’s opinion, things such as dreams were too meaningless, indistinct and philosophical to an ordinary person like him. Bullsh*tting was an extremely practical thing and was greatly appreciated and approved by everyone.

Henceforth, the life motto which motivated him to strive in life was, “If a man doesn’t bullsh*t, how different is he to a salted fish?”

Only when bullsh*tting is able to be performed in style and bring out a person’s manners and standards will the state and meaning of life surface.. It was similar to how Mr. Wang had talked about setting a small goal of a hundred million yuan in life first [2], or how Mr. Ma had said that he had never touched money, [3] and so on. It could be said that the history of human society’s development was a history of ever-changing patterns in bullsh*tting.

The lowest tier of bullsh*tting was showing off vulgarity, whereas the highest tier of bullsh*tting was a sacred rite. These were the levels of bullsh*tting.

The events that had occurred on this day were executed perfectly.

If Yan Liqiang hadn’t put on this facade today, the outcome would have been completely different. He would be no different than a salted fish. However, he wasn’t a salted fish, and thus put on facade. Based on the impact of this act, he gave it a score of 95.

After the ninth cigarette butt fell to the ground, Yan Liqiang crumpled the empty cigarette pack into a ball and fiercely hurled it onto the floor.

“F*ck...”

His voice was deep and hoarse as he cursed. It sounded similar to the roar of an injured, wild wolf. With this single word, Yan Liqiang expelled all the resentment and emotions bottled up within his heart.

He let out another long sigh and felt the stifling emotions in his heart grow lighter. Yan Liqiang laughed wildly when he thought back to his staged act and his sweet revenge. It started off as a small smile, then escalated into a series of wild laughs. He laughed in solitary until his body convulsed under the streetlights. In the end, he teared up, just like a nutcase.

After smoking to vent out his emotions, Yan Liqiang walked toward the distant Old City District. As he made his way towards that area, he thought about his future plans.

He did not wish to stay in this city any further.

He had already resigned from the company yesterday. This was only partially due to Lu Jiaying’s actions as the idea had already been haunting him from the start. Now that the conditions were met, he had no qualms about leaving the company and trying to make a living for himself.

The department manager in his company had been working to degrade and discredit Yan Liqiang of his work. This man who would go as far as to even strike off Yan Liqiang’s name from the creator’s list when Yan Liqiang made a brilliant powerpoint slide to be uploaded into the company’s Office Automation system. He had done it out of fear for the fact that the boss might know that Yan Liqiang was the one who made the powerpoint slides in the first place.

However, even though the man was constantly oppressing him, Yan Liqiang was still able to do surprisingly well within the company based on his outstanding abilities alone.

It was this year in particular where Yan Liqiang’s services had risen to the top of the company for four consecutive quarters.

Despite all of this, Yan Liqiang still chose to leave in the end. It was because one of the old executives he knew admired his skills and character very much and wanted to invest in a large-scale mobile-electronics shopping mall within another city, intending to let Yan Liqiang manage it. Additionally, he had also given Yan Liqiang a large share of the land, allowing him to become both a shareholder and partner of the company from a mere employee in a single step.

At first, Yan Liqiang was hesitant to leave due to his bright future within the company. However, in a flash, his income and benefits had began to multiply rapidly. However, in order to rope in Yan Liqiang and express his sincerity, the old executive had even changed the name of his investment into Yan Liqiang’s name.

He had already gone to this extent, so what else could Yan Liqiang say?

His life would start anew. Yan Liqiang was confident that he would definitely excel. The act that he had put on today might one day come into fruition. Even if he wasn’t able to be a rich second generation [1], there was still a chance that he would someday be the father of one. For the sake of that miniscule chance, Yan Liqiang would desperately put up a fight for it.

‘If you don’t struggle, then how different are you from a salted fish?’ This was Yan Liqiang’s second motto in his lifetime.

During this time period, Yan Liqiang was no longer in pain. The most heart aching and painful moment for him was when he had first discovered that Lu Jiaying had cheated on him. The shock from the impact that he had suffered almost made him collapsed on the spot. Extreme measures had even surfaced in his mind at that moment, but after getting over it, he realized that there really wasn’t any need for him to harm people for the sake of one treacherous and self-conscious woman. It really wasn’t worth it. Bygones should just be bygones.

If it weren’t for the fact that Lu Jiaying had gone to the extremes, and that the two were really not meant for each other, Yan Liqiang would likely not have gone as far as he did. The facade he put on today was a lesson for that vain woman.

When he thought back to his facade, Yan Liqiang couldn’t help but laugh whenever he thought of how remorseful and ashamed she must be feeling right now. It was akin to the satisfaction one felt after a prank had succeeded. This joy managed to gradually washed away the depression in his heart.

Yan Liqiang felt that of all the pretenses that he had put on throughout all these years, only the one today could be considered to be the apex of his acting career.

He fished out his switched-off mobile phone, removed the sim card from his phone and threw it directly into a smelly gutter by the roadside. Yan Liqiang inserted a new sim card into the slot before switching on his phone. Following this, he called a number.

“Hey, Liqiang! How is your work coming along?” An enthusiastic middle-aged man’s voice, brimming with energy, answered the call.

“Manager Zhao! It’s already been dealt with. I should arrive at Guangzhou Airport at four o’clock tomorrow afternoon!”

“You don’t have to address me as Manager Zhao anymore, Brother Huan will do!” The tone of the middle-aged man coming from the phone now sounded extremely serious and forthright. “I will send a car to pick you up from the airport tomorrow afternoon, and I’ll also find us a place to hold the welcoming dinner at night. I’m planning on introducing a couple of friends to you. These friends of mine are very capable in Guangzhou! After they had heard what I had said about you, they said that it was very rare to find someone as loyal as you in this generation, so they really want to be acquainted with you...”

“Okay! Thank you, Brother Huan!”

“Why are you thanking me? Don’t you be so courteous with me from now on! If it weren’t for your zealous help, I would’ve lost over one hundred million yuan for those goods by those bloody cheating koreans! It’s not really a big issue losing that amount of money since it’s only a couple of houses. But my reputation was at stake! Liqiang, you were the one who had saved my dignity! I absolutely admire your personality! You’re capable and loyal, so you don’t have much to worry once you reach Guangzhou. I’ve already found you a place to stay and settled on your car. You don’t have to worry about anything at all! Just concentrate on doing your job and I’ll completely hand over the shopping mall work to you. I’ve only arranged for a financial manager and as for the rest, you make the call. The shopping mall is only a small business and is considered as my investment. However, once you settle in, make some achievements, and gain a little experience, it’ll be easier for me to transfer you into the corporation to help me out. The other shareholders of the company will not object to it!”

After ending the call, Yan Liqiang heaved out hefty sigh. The depression that he had felt deep down vanished like smoke in thin air. He felt that his life was no different from a see-saw. Although he had failed in relationship affairs, his career had quietly advanced to a higher and all new stage thanks to the good karma he had accumulated throughout the years!

Even if he hadn’t put on a facade today, if Lu Jiaying had found out Yan Liqiang’s current situation, she still would’ve definitely regret her choices. Yet, Yan Liqiang still continued to pretend, not for the sake of anyone else, but for that one word–satisfaction!

He wasn’t the kind of man who couldn’t survive without a woman, so Yan Liqiang could accept Lu Jiaying’s departure. However, he could never bring himself to forgive her for her betrayal. Towards traitors, there was naturally no need to be sincere to them.

...

“Selling radios, insoles, needleworks...”

After ending the call with his Brother Huan, Yan Liqiang had subconsciously walked to a street on the Old City District where the voice of a peddler under the street light next to Yan Liqiang had caught his attention.

It was an old couple, still working in their street stall at this time of the day. They were sharply dressed and next to them was a small and shabby looking tricycle. The old man was at the stall trying to attract customers while the wife was sitting on the tricycle, using a couple of pieces of rags to cut insoles. Their stall was set up right under the street light. The light from the street light happened to illuminate the items in their booth clearly in the night.

When he saw the two old couple sitting on the ground selling things, Yan Liqiang couldn’t help but feel a little pain.

Perhaps there were a lot of youngsters who were born in the big city and would never see vendor’s booth like this in their lifetime. They would never have imagined that these items could actually be used to set up a stall in the street.

The old man had placed a couple of worn-out items on top of the green plastic cloth for display. There was an old-fashioned radio with the paint peeling off, a few w-filament bulbs, an old pair of dusty gloves, a box of old screws, a couple of pairs of insoles, two no longer new nail clippers, a box of needles, some threads, rubber bands and buttons, a few pieces of old mobile phone batteries of unknown models, two powerboards, as well as a pile of old books and a couple of other miscellaneous stuffs...

To most, even if these items were thrown into the rubbish pile, nobody would pick them up, let alone use them to earn money. This was simply a joke.

However, Yan Liqiang knew that this old couple wasn’t doing this to fool around. The majority of the elderly who were in the latter stages of life either lived their lives laid off or living in the old district without any living resources. They really were just setting up a stall in the street in hopes that these items could earn them some money.

This wasn’t Yan Liqiang’s first time encountering these kind of elderlies. During the day, the city inspectors were strict so the elderlies were afraid to come out, so it was only during the night that they could emerge to set up their booth. There were many instances where Yan Liqiang had seen that the old man and wife selling things like half a bottle of soy sauce, half of a noodle, a few beer bottles, half of a medicine bottle for colds, a set of old chess pieces or anything of the sort... To these elderlies, this was the only way that they could think of that allowed them to make money whilst retaining their pride.

Yan Liqiang wasn’t that much of a prideful man, so he had no qualms about buying things from the old couple. Everytime he saw the old couple setting up their stall, he would buy their things even if he would never use them.

Yan Liqiang arrived before the old man’s booth and knelt down to look over the items in the booth.

The old man watched Yan Liqiang with a hopeful yet uneasy gaze. “Young man, take a look at what you need. These things are cheaper than those sold in shops. They can still be used...”

Yan Liqiang also didn’t know exactly what it is he should buy. However, it was at these moments where Yan Liqiang’s acting skills were exhibited.

As Yan Liqiang scanned the old books on display, he caught sight of an interesting old book among them named the ‘Performing Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing Internal Cultivation Manual’. This was an old book which appeared to be published twenty years ago by the Zhongzhou Ancient Books publishing company. The price of the first print was only twenty-six yuan.

When he laid eyes on this book, he was taken aback due to the fact that he had never expected that a rare manual like the Muscle Tendon Changing Manual had truly existed. In the past, he had thought that such a thing was only invented for novels and movies and would never have dreamt that a thing like this actually existed in real life. Under the lights by the road, he flipped through the book unhurriedly. He realized that apart from a couple pages’ worth of prefaces and a few text, the rest were all drawings depicting different forms of training techniques.

As Yan Liqiang stared at this book hidden amongst the pile of old books, he didn’t really find anything else that attracted his attention. He sighed in amazement at the broad and profound culture of China, so much so that he could easily find a secret cultivation manual in a pile of old books.

Ah, whatever. This will just be treated as a bit of fun. He could wait until when he was more free once he was old, and exercise according to this manual at the park everyday in the morning, treating it as broadcast exercises. He could still act in front of everyone else. While the others were doing open-air fitness dancing, he was practising the Muscle Tendon Changing Manual. If word got out, the standard would be completely different!

Grasping onto this thought, Yan Liqiang yelled out in a pompous tone, “Ah, I’ve finally found it! I can’t believe that I can still find this kind of things out here...” A gleeful expression emerged on Yan Liqiang’s face. He waved the old book at the old man selling it. “Uncle, how much are you selling this book for?”

“This...this book costs ten yuan.” Since it was such an old book, the old man felt a bit of embarrassment from his sales pitch since he felt that the price for the book was too high.

“Ten yuan? It’s that cheap?” Yan Liqiang was shocked. He quickly patted all over his body before retrieving five red notes from his pocket, and handed them over. “Uncle, I’ll take this book. Here’s five hundred yuan...”

“Ah! That much...” The old man jumped in fright and quickly waved his hands to dissuade Yan Liqiang. He didn’t take the cash. “I don’t need this much! I really don’t...”

He had already spent a lot of money from the previous performance alone. Hence, he didn’t mind spending five hundred yuan more this time. However, it felt satisfying to spend this kind of money whilst explaining in a bullshit manner. Yet to some people, this amount of cash wasn’t even enough for health care. But to these elderlies, this small amount would probably cover their living expenses for a whole month.

“Uncle, you have no idea. This book of yours is extraordinary. It’s extremely valuable...”

“Oh, this... I’ve seen it online before. They’re also selling it. A brand new set only costs roughly fifty to sixty yuan. I’ve only salvaged this book from the recycling centre, it shouldn’t cost that much...” The uncle seller also wasn’t a money-grubber.

“Uncle, you have no clue! This book is like wine and stamps. You have to look at the year as well as the edition. This book was published earlier and is extremely scarce, so it has a special collectible value. The book will probably worth more in a few years time...”

“Really?” The uncle was still half in doubt after being persuaded by Yan Liqiang

“I won’t take advantage of uncle! Five hundred yuan it is!” said Yan Liqiang solemnly. In truth, he too had almost fell for his own lies. Once he finished speaking, he immediately stuffed the five red notes into the old man’s hand. Without waiting for the old man to respond, he grabbed the book and ran off.

The old man from within the street stall watched Yan Liqiang leave with a grateful, yet perplexed expression. After a while, he took another glance at the five red notes that remained clutched within his hands. Letting out a sigh, he turned his gaze towards his wife and said, “It looks like there’re still quite a lot of good people in the world. We have certainly met a nice one today...”

...

There were few people walking on the streets and the streetlights were quite bright. More than ten minutes later, after leaving the old man’s booth, Yan Liqiang walked as he flipped through the pages of the book in his hands. At this moment, he heard somebody excitedly shouted loudly from afar.

“Ah! It’s a meteor! And it’s heading in this direction...”

As he walked on the sidewalk, Yan Liqiang came to a sudden halt as he turned his attention towards the sky in a dumbstruck manner. He had only just raised his head and sensed that the surrounding streets had suddenly became radiant. Everything was engulfed in a plume of white light. Before Yan Liqiang could react, a loud ‘BOOM!’ resounded out from a nearby area, and he instantly lost consciousness...

...

Yan Liqing had vanished. All that remained at the sidewalk where he was initially was a gigantic hole with a diameter of countless metres. After a few minutes had passed, the city’s fire truck and police cars had all arrived under the screams that filled the scene. A warning line was immediately put on site, and even the reporters from the TV station had came...

...

A week had passed, and in the archive room of the city’s public security bureau, another person was added to the missing people list: Yan Liqiang. Male. Han Ethnic Group. He was born in a certain month and date and was reported missing on a certain month and date from the city....

“Liqiang, wake up... Liqiang, wake up...”

It was unknown as to when, but an anxious shout faintly rung in Yan Liqiang’s ears. During which, he also felt that there was a person lightly patting his face. The shout gradually shifted from being barely audible to distinctly clear. This voice became so clear that Yan Liqiang had even sensed that someone had begun to shout loudly in his ears, prompting him to open his eyes.

What fell into his line of sight was the face of a fourteen to fifteen years old youngster whose face was pressed closely to his own body. His face was slightly chubby and was even covered with a couple of pimples. His eyes were also slightly reddened, filled with apprehension and fury. It was the owner of this face who had been using his hand to slap his face.

To Yan Liqiang, the owner of this face belonged to a stranger, and yet, he had an indescribable feeling that he knew the youth well. However, he was momentarily unable to recall the name of this youth.

Upon seeing that Yan Liqiang had opened his eyes, the youth’s face was immediately overwhelmed with delight. “Ah! You’re awake! You’re awake! Liqiang, are you alright...?”

Yan Liqiang’s mind was still a little hazy, his consciousness still slightly fuzzy.

“Everyone, please give way. Don’t surround him. Let’s get him to the medical hall first...” The voice of the middle-aged man’s voice sounded in Yan Liqiang’s ears. Soon after, the fourteen or fifteen year old youth quickly stood up. It was only after he had stood up that did he realize that he was lying on the ground, surrounded by a mob of teenagers. Each of their figures towered over him as they stared at him with strange expressions on their faces.

Some of them were eyeing him with concerned gazes while the others’ eyes were filled with traces of schadenfreude. Furthermore, there were some people whose faces held traces of astonishment and curiosity amongst the crowd.

However, the thing that made Yan Liqiang confused was the manner the youngsters around him were dressed; it was extremely peculiar. They were all wearing the same outfit held together by the belt clasped around their waist. The whole get up reminded Yan Liqiang of martial art training robes. They also had long hair, it was no different from the hairstyles he had seen from various TV dramas.

‘What’s going on?’ A question had begun to surface within Yan Liqiang’s mind. Was this a prank? Or was he dreaming?

The moment the idea that he was dreaming surfaced within his mind, Yan Liqiang felt an excruciating amount of pain resonating from his head, back, and right arm. The pain was distinct and intense, attacking Yan Liqiang in the form of a rhythm, provoking his entire central nervous system. Thus, warning Yan Liqiang that his body was currently in immense danger. It all felt unmistakably real.

While enduring the excruciating pain, Yan Liqiang finally managed to catch a quick glimpse of the surrounding youths when his vision grew clear enough to see. He could hear faint murmurs coming from the crowd of people.

‘It’s his fault for gloating in front of everyone everyday! Now he got his just desserts. Haha...’

‘Serves him right!’

‘I never imagined that Hong Tao would be so amazing. He had trained the Iron Palm to the third layer, and had done so under everyone’s noses! But he put too much strength into his attack, he almost killed Yan Liqiang...’

‘I never expected Yan Liqiang would still be able to open his eyes! Hong Tao should have been crueler with his attacks! He should’ve crippled this annoying fellow so he won’t be able to participate in the Martial Arts County Trial in two months... ’

Yan Liqiang felt that his vision was blurred once again, the throbbing pain in his head contrasted his empty body. The clear faces he had seen and the remarks he had heard, was blurred once again.

Who were these people? Why did he feel like he knew them, yet didn’t at the same time? He was dreaming. He had to be dreaming. He must certainly be dreaming.

The voice spiralled within Yan Liqiang’s heart. However, regardless of the voice’s words, the scene before his eyes, as well as the sensation coming from his body was becoming more and more real.

The crowd abruptly dispersed as a man who seemed roughly thirty with a bulky build and a tanned face appeared before Yan Liqiang. He knelt down, casting a glance at Yan Liqiang’s broken body with his lowered eyes. Using his hand, he pinched Yan Liqiang’s body in various locations, as though he were examining him thoroughly. Following this, he lifted Yan Liqiang’s right hand with his own, pulling and twisting before letting go. A ‘crack!’ sound could be heard from his body as the dislocated arm instantly snapped back to place.

After his arm snapped back into place, Yan Liqiang groaned with his forehead drenched with sweat.

The man got up onto his feet and gestured with his hands, instructing in a low tone, “Move Yan Liqiang to the medical hall...”

A stretcher was moved to Yan Liqiang’s side, and he was lifted into it. Following which, the crowd parted, opening up a path as they witnessed the scene of the beaten down Yan Liqiang, lying down and being carried away on a stretcher.

As he lay on the stretcher, Yan Liqiang’s field of vision only consisted of the densely packed crowd in his surrounding. He was unsure how many people were there. The crowd consisted of males and females all wearing similar training robes. They watched him leave with various kinds of expressions. Not far from this area, Yan Liqiang caught sight of an arena, protruding above the ground at around two metres high. A fifteen or sixteen year old young man with a stout build stood on the arena with arms crossed, casting an arrogant and cold gaze at him. A trace of ridicule could be seen hanging from the corners of his lips. Behind this youth, an enormous projection of a green palm looking to be more than one metre tall could be seen to be slowly fading away...

Focusing his gaze even further, he saw a banner that hung above the arena. A large line of text could be seen written on it. It read, ‘Martial Arts County Trial’s Preliminary Exam in Qinghe County of Pingxi Prefecture’.

An old man clad in long robes could be heard loudly roaring in the distance after Yan Liqiang had left, “The victor of the fourth arena’s seventh preliminary tournament is Hong Tao! The next group, get ready...”

Everything continued to proceed. Yet, Yan Liqiang’s state of mind remained in a state of confusion.

After being carried away from the densely packed crowd, Yan Liqiang just noticed that he was currently in a large courtyard. Within the courtyard were a few odd-looking Chinese style buildings. Adjacent to the field in the centre of the courtyard was a row of weapon racks. It was currently morning; the shades of the tree worked as a shelter for the birds that were twittering and a flowery fragrance pervaded the air from within the courtyard. Youngsters could be heard yelling from the fights in the distant arena.

The sky was so blue and enchanting that it could attracted one’s attention. With such a clear and blue sky in sight, Yan Liqiang couldn’t help but recall the last time that he had seen such a sky; it was when he had traveled to Shangri-la at Yunnan.

Suddenly, the stretcher shook and in that brief moment of time, Yan Liqiang fell from the stretcher, his entire body collided with the floor. Waves of excruciating pain bombarded him and his vision couldn’t help but blurr again....

“Xu Changle, what do you think you’re doing?” The fatty lifting the stretcher berated angrily.

“Sorry, my hands slipped...”

“You’re clearly doing it on purpose...”

“So what if I did it intentionally? Hmph! Su Chang, this has nothing to do with you. Do you think Yan Liqiang would still dare to be as haughty as he was before?”

As he listened to the argument around him, Yan Liqiang couldn’t help but laugh bitterly to himself. It seems like the previous Yan Liqiang had made enemies out of a lot of people and wasn’t popular. At this time, even the person lifting his stretcher would go as far as to seize this opportunity to teach him a lesson...

A wave of weakness flooded his mind, forcing Yan Liqiang to faint once again.

...

While unconscious, Yan Liqiang found himself in a long dream. In this dream, he was born in a bizarre world called the Silver Continent. The Silver Continent had many clans that stood in great numbers. In this place, the weak were prey to the strong; it was a place where powerful countries, tyrants, large clans and sects infested the world. This was a world where martial arts was held in the highest regard and dominated everything by force. In this world, he was still known as Yan Liqiang, and was no different than the other him on earth who had grown up from an orphanage. In this world, he had an insane and strict father, who was a blacksmith from the Qinghe County under the Pingxi Prefecture in the Great Han empire. From the moment his brain could store memories, his father only had one request from him: to train in martial arts. Apart from madly indulging himself in martial arts training, he couldn’t recall much of anything else.

At the end of the long dream, Yan Liqiang once again saw the earth he was born on, and his past self who very much enjoyed to act. He caught sight of Lu Jiaying, and witnessed the meteor shooting right at him, as well as the broiling white light.

Within the light, the two distinct dreams and memories ultimately and completely merged together. The two Yan Liqiangs had also became one.

...

Yan Liqiang woke up, opened his eyes, and realized that he had been lying in bed. At this moment, everything that had transpired on earth before were no different to an unrealistic dream to him.

The first thing to enter his line of sight was a spotless and white roof, as well as the spotlessly white mosquito net that hung over the bed. After that, his nostrils were assaulted by the stench of alcohol as well as the scent of strong chinese herbal medicines. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that this was a ward.

The room was empty. Yan Liqiang took a quick glance out of the window. Judging by the time of the day, it should be in the evening. This meant that he had been lying here for half of the day.

With plenty of time to rest, Yan Liqiang sobered up; his brain had completely recovered his consciousness. He was fine except for his chest and back that still felt some discomfort. In addition, the back of his head was still somewhat sore. As he reached out to touch his head, Yan Liqiang could feel a bump swelling at the back of his head.

Only after removing his blanket did he realize that he was topless. His chest and back were held together by a layer of white gauze. His chest felt scorching hot. It seems that medicine had been applied his body prior to his awakening.

Yan Liqiang got off the bed with his clothes still draped over his shoulders. He noticed a mirror on the wall adjacent to the bed. Yan Liqiang was dumbstruck as he stared at the fourteen or fifteen year old youth in the mirror.

The young man’s face in the mirror was exactly the same as his on earth in his previous life. Even the vermillion birthmark found on his left earlobe was present. He hadn’t changed at all. The only difference was that, during the time when he was around fourteen or fifteen of age in his previous life, his body was still in the developing stage, so it was slender and weak, practically resembling a bean sprout. However, things were different now, the current figure of the fourteen or fifteen year old young man in the mirror was extremely wonderful! He could easily be a model! Not only were the youth’s arm, the muscles and lines on his chest and belly were all easily noticeable. This was especially true in his lower abdomen where a six pack was clearly visible. His body was full of strength and vigor. For a fourteen or fifteen year old young man to possess this kind of body figure, it was pretty much impossible to train it to become this fit. At least, not without enduring years of painstaking hard work and working out.

He had really struck gold!

Initially, Yan Liqiang felt a bit depressed inside, but having seen his body and figure that was younger by ten years for the first time in the mirror, his mood changed for the better. The corners of his mouth couldn’t help but break into a smile.

“My son! Where is my son, Yan Liqiang...?” A man’s irritated voice could be heard from outside the room. Yan Liqiang was just about to turn his head before the door of the room was forcibly opened in an abrupt manner and a man barged in...

The burly man who pushed the door open was around forty years old. His body was strong and firm, the clothes on him were slightly stained with iron scrubs and carried the stench of fire and smoke. And rather than saying that he pushed the ward door open, it was more appropriate to say that he was the one who dismantled it.

The man was accompanied by two youths. He recognized one of the youths as the little fatty named Su Chang, whom he had seen earlier after he regained consciousness. The other youth was slightly thinner in appearance.

The three of them were sweating buckets as they gasped for breath. They seemed to have run all the way here without resting.

“Liqiang! Are you alright? Where does it hurt? Do you feel any discomfort...”

Before Yan Liqiang could say anything, the forty-year-old man was already anxiously approaching him in large strides. His hands tightly grasped Yan Liqiang’s shoulders, and he made a thorough inspection. Upon seeing a lack of critical injuries, the anxious expression on his face eventually relaxed.

When Yan Liqiang saw this display of deep concern, and the look of worry evident on the man’s face, he felt moved beyond words, the feeling resonating from deep within his heart. In his previous lifetime, he had grown up in an orphanage, so from a young age he had never known of fatherly love. Never would he have imagined being blessed with such a father in this lifetime.

“Father, I’m alright. They’ve already tended to my wounds. I think just a couple day’s worth of rest should be enough!”

“It’s great you’re alright! It’s great you’re alright!” The large pair of hands that had been pressing down on Yan Liqiang’s shoulders were finally lifted, allowing him to heave a heavy sigh of relief in response. “If it weren’t for Su Chang and Qi Donglai coming to inform me this time, I wouldn’t even have known what had happened to you...” After he finished, the man turned his head, gazing at the two youths who’d come along with him. “Su Chang, Donglai, I’ll be sure to treat you two to some drinks the next time you decide to come over to my house again. It’s already quite late now. Your families are most likely still waiting for you. The both of you should probably head home soon!”

Su Chang nodded his head in agreement while casting a glance at Yan Liqiang. “Alright, Uncle Yan. Now that Liqiang is awake, we can head back now!”

“Just go! Just go!”

The two youths were about to turn to leave, when Yan Liqiang suddenly called out to them, stopping them right in their tracks. “Su Chang, Donglai, thank you so much for your help this time!”

The youth named Su Chang was slightly caught off-guard by this, as though he’d never expected to hear the word ‘thanks’ coming from Yan Liqiang. Chuckling, he scratched his head. “Um... Sure thing! You’re most welcome...”

Beside him, the one called Qi Donglai shot a peculiar glance at Yan Liqiang. He realized that this gaze was being returned by a pair of keen eyes staring right at his face. The youngster, Qi Donglai, smiled. “Alright then, Liqiang, you rest well!”

...

As he watched Su Chang and Qi Donglai leave together, a question couldn’t help but surface from deep within Yan Liqiang’s heart. He didn’t understand why, but he found that Qi Donglai looked slightly tense. When Yan Liqiang had looked at him just now, Qi Donglai had involuntarily reacted by lightly pursing his mouth, unconsciously gulping down a mouthful of saliva. Based on Yan Liqiang’s experience in his previous life, this kind of expression made it evident that Qi Donglai had been chock-full of nervousness at that moment.

Why had Qi Donglai been so nervous when facing him?

All of a sudden, Yan Liqiang recalled today’s situation when he was battling Hong Tao.

During that time, a mishap had certainly befallen him in the arena. When he was battling Hong Tao, there had been a split second when a sudden numbing sensation from his right leg had caused his entire body to freeze in place, slowing down his movements in turn. It was precisely why Hong Tao had been able to seize the opportunity to get close enough to use the Iron Palm. Both of his palms had heavily attacked Yan Liqiang’s body, immediately sending him flying from the battle arena, and causing him to suffer a great defeat as a result. Furthermore, he was now covered in injuries and it would take time for a complete recovery.

He was really in the dark as to how Hong Tao had managed to train himself to use the Iron Palm technique and somehow still maintain it in the utmost secrecy. But even if Hong Tao had been in training, it still shouldn’t have been for too long, so it was safe to assume that his Iron Palm had yet to attain a high level. Thus, if they’d really fought it out, Yan Liqiang shouldn’t have suffered such a shameful defeat.

7

“Liqiang, weren’t you equally matched with Hong Tao before? And you’ve fought each other before this too. Even if he had been training the Iron Palm in secrecy for some time, he couldn’t have practiced it for long. On the arena today, you shouldn’t have lost as horribly as you did. What happened?”

After Su Chang and Qi Donglai left the room, Yan Liqiang’s father, Yan Dechang, began to interrogate him on what exactly had happened in the arena today. From the way he looked, it seemed Yan Dechang was taking Yan Liqiang’s defeat more to heart than Yan Liqiang himself.

“I’m not sure what happened myself, but the fact remains that within a split second, Hong Tao struck me before I had the chance to react. Maybe I was slightly taken aback by the fact that Hong Tao had learned the Iron Palm...” Yan Liqiang explained in detail.

“The outcome of one battle doesn’t prove much. Winning and losing are common occurrences in the field of military operations. As long as you work harder afterward and learn from your experiences, you will definitely be able to defeat Hong Tao the next time you meet him on the battlefield. You must become Qinghe County’s most formidable man for this generation! You have to defeat that Hong Tao! Do you understand me?!” Yan Dechang’s gaze glimmered with immense hope as he stared at Yan Liqiang, his tone putting a remarkable amount of pressure on him. His hands once again rested on Yan Liqiang’s shoulders, squeezing them tightly.

What else could Yan Liqiang say? He could only nod his head as he had done many times throughout the years. During that time, Yan Liqiang had developed a tendency of being submissive within the presence of his father. As for the ‘little life goal’ that his father entrusted him with, it was to stand at the top of Qinghe County’s younger generation.

Yan Dechang finally breathed a sigh of relief after seeing Yan Liqiang nodding his head.

For their remaining time, Yan Dechang had gotten hold of the physician from the medical hall. After relentlessly asking with meticulous detail about Yan Liqiang’s injuries, he found that apart from the bruise on his chest, Yan Liqiang’s body was quite fine. As long as he stopped his martial arts training for a month or two, as well as refrained from making any large movements, his body should gradually recover. After buying two bottles of healing medicinal liquor, Yan Dechang left the medical ward, taking Yan Liqiang with him.

The medical hall was situated inside the martial arts academy. By the time the both of them had departed from the medical hall, the martial arts academy was practically deserted. The training field and the arena were empty, completely devoid of the clamor that could be heard during the daytime. Only the medical hall remained bustling with activity, with people still waiting to see the physician.

As they left the martial arts academy, Yan Dechang’s brows knitted together, his facial expression as cold as iron. The moment the physician said that Yan Liqiang required around one or two months of rest, his expression had darkened considerably. Because if that was the case, then that meant Yan Liqiang would be unable to participate in the Martial Arts County Trial being held in two months...

Qinghe County Town was located just outside of the martial arts academy. Naturally, the county town was the most bustling place in all of Qinghe County. The street located outside the martial arts academy was about five zhang wide with a seemingly endless stream of horses and carriages moving through it, amid people scurrying about their daily lives. A great number of shops and buildings of lofty size stood by the street, which made this place extremely lively.

The sun had just set in the west while the sky was beginning to darken. Some of the shops had already hung a red lantern at their entrances to illuminate the streets, and the majority of the people were wearing long traditional Han Chinese robes with swords and blades hanging from their waists. Each and every one of them appeared to be treading on light air, full of heroic spirit. Looking at these surroundings, it felt no different from being in a dream.

Yan Dechang surveyed his vicinity and immediately instructed Yan Liqiang, “Wait here. The physician told me that you shouldn’t move excessively for the next few days, so I’ll call us a cart. It’s a couple of li to reach home from here. We’ll use the cart to get back!”

After he finished, without waiting for Yan Liqiang to respond, he advanced towards the end of the street to find a ride on his own.

Witnessing Yan Dechang leave by himself, Yan Liqiang laughed bitterly. As a father, Yan Dechang was too strict on Yan Liqiang. In his memories, Yan Dechang was the epitome of a ‘tiger dad’. From an early age, Yan Dechang had paved the path for Yan Liqiang, and so there was no need for Yan Liqiang to worry about anything at all. The only task of importance expected of Yan Liqiang was for him to do his martial arts training–to do his martial arts training and become stronger, stronger and even stronger. And it was precisely because he had this kind of father, that caused Yan Liqiang’s life to be devoid of any livelihood or fun for someone of his age. Thus, he lacked friends and became an introvert as a result. His entire being was slightly reticent, without any knowledge on how to get on in the world. Due to his personality, nobody in the town’s academy was willing to get too familiar with him. Even if you were to disregard all of his behavioral issues, because there were a lot of training and battle courses going on in the academy, students that had been hit by Yan Liqiang in these classes tended to hold a grudge against him. Thus, there was no surprise that so many people had rejoiced in his misfortune after getting struck down from the arena. Or even when he’d purposely been thrown from the stretcher.

Needless to say, for the past dozen years, Yan Liqiang’s personality had made him a bad example when it came to worldly and interpersonal relations.

As for Su Chang and Qi Donglai, both of them hadn’t yet spent much time in getting to know Yan Liqiang. It had barely even been a year. Speaking of which, their acquaintance had only started after an afternoon of a certain day last year; class had already ended when Yan Liqiang had caught sight of them getting bullied and extorted by a couple of people from the academy. Yan Liqiang had actively saved them at once. Hence, from then on, both Su Chang and Qi Donglai treated Yan Liqiang as a good friend and began to hang out with him.

When Yan Dechang’s retreating figure vanished at the end of the street, Yan Liqiang knelt down to roll up the right side of his pants and examined his leg thoroughly.

Not much effort was spent since Yan Liqiang was relying on his senses to find it. Exactly at the shank of his right leg, he discovered a small and bloody red dot just wide enough to fit a needle. And from that same spot, a small area could be found where his skin color was a tad darker, as though it had been stained by grease.

With such a small mark, had he not examined it as closely as he did, he wouldn’t have been able to discover it at all.

As Yan Liqiang fixated his gaze at the mark left on his shank wound, all of a sudden, a thought surfaced from his mind–ice ants.

Ice ants were a highly poisonous type of mystical creature. Once bitten, one would feel their entire body go numb.

Like the normal kind, the majority of these ants only lived deep inside the mountain forests. They lived in swarms and rarely appeared where people lived. But, it wasn’t as if this had never happened before, because nearly every year, Yan Liqiang would catch news of hunters and woodsmen getting bitten by ice ants while venturing into the mountains.

Ice ants were roughly the same size as ordinary ants. The difference was that their bodies were snowy white. Some of them were even nearly transparent and were quite difficult to be seen with a casual glance. The majority of those who ventured into the mountains would unknowingly bring some ice ants home with them. To most people, getting bitten by a few ice ants wouldn’t put their lives in any immediate danger, so other than feeling a sense of numbness from their bodies, there was nothing too dangerous about their bites. But the same could not be said if they were to be bitten by a swarm instead, in which case their lives would probably be in danger. Interestingly enough, once the ice ant released its toxins after biting a person, it would immediately die, similar to a bee after having stung someone. Its body would instantly melt like ice, transforming into a liquid indistinguishable from a water droplet.

The mark on his shank, along with the sensation he’d felt at that time, completely matched the distinctive trait of having been bitten by an ice ant.

But why would there be an ice ant on his body for no apparent reason?

Recalling the tense state Qi Donglai had been in just now, with Yan Liqiang’s intelligence, it only took a split second for his mind to figure out what had just happened.

Such a great scheme indeed!

Yan Liqiang didn’t want this matter to be discovered by Yan Dechang. Should Yan Dechang find out that the reason why Yan Liqiang had failed in the preliminary county exam was that he had fallen prey to a scheme, with Yan Dechang’s temperament, it wasn’t hard to picture him easily doing something irrational and regrettable.

And Hong Tao’s father was currently the Town Constable of Qinghe County’s Liuhe Town. A few of his family’s uncles were either stationed at the county government office or were stationed at Pingxi Prefecture. A number of them were even working for the government. In Qinghe County, the Hong Clan could be considered to be a fairly large clan. Regular clans could never compare to them. And in Liuhe Town, the Hong Clan was nonetheless, a clan that was second to none.

Yan Liqiang’s home was situated right at Liuhe Town.

Not long after, Yan Dechang soon came back, followed by a bullock cart...

Liuhe Town was the largest town within the entire Qinghe County, it was located not too far or too near from the county seat. However, it was still a distance of three to four li away. Following the preliminary examination today, both Su Chang and Qi Donglai had traveled from the county seat all the way to Liuhe Town in order to inform Yan Dechang of what had occurred. Following which, Yan Dechang had immediately made the return journey to the martial arts academy of Qinghe County with the two in tow.

Usually, this short distance would be nothing to Yan Liqiang. During his time spent back at home, every single day was a nonstop session of tempering and toughening his body; he would run for at least a distance of ten li. Now, however, he was only able to sit on the bullock cart that Yan Dechang had called due to his injuries. In this manner, he began his journey back to Linhe Town from the county seat in the wobbly cart accompanied by his father..

After passing through the gates of the county seat, a vast amount of farmland could be seen stretched across the land as far as the eye could see. The road that led to Liuhe Town could be found between the acres of farmland.

The traversing bullock cart creaked and groaned as its hard, wooden wheels rolled against the earthen road. Although the cart wobbled slightly as it moved, it remained quite firm and steady, supporting their weight without a problem.

Presently, the night had neared. There were no longer any signs of farmers still working in the farms. Only the sound of croaking frogs could be heard in the background, along with the aroma of paddies wafting about the air. Three bright moons of various sizes gradually began to reveal themselves from under the cover of the night. The luminous and resplendent stars began to take after the moon and were beginning to appear one by one. The once mysterious and boundless void now seemed to be flooded with an inexhaustible source spiritual energy, dictating the ebb and flow of the stars in the sky.

Yan Dechang was silent as he sat in the cart, he gave off the impression that he was currently in a bad mood. Yan Liqiang on the other hand, lifted up his head to study the starry sky from within the gathering darkness from atop of the cart. He savoured the universe’s beauty and immensity as his mind was enchanted by the stars. In Yan Liqiang’s opinion, although he had lost in the tournament, and even if there was a likelihood that he had fallen prey to a scheme, he still wasn’t the dispirited in the least. In contrast, he felt slightly exhilarated as someone like him who was supposed to be dead, had been given the opportunity to live again. He was already blessed to be able to sit here and watch the starry sky in this manner.

The driver of the cart was acquainted with Yan Dechang. As he sat in front, controlling the cart, he was unable to read the expressions on the father and son’s faces. While he drove, he rambled incessantly. “So today is the preliminary examination for Qinghe County’s Martial Arts County Trial. I’ve long heard that Master Yan’s son is of the best in Liuhe Town for his age group. During the county trial’s preliminary exam this time around, he will certainly rank among one of the best! By that time, your son will have already officially participated in the Martial Arts County Trial and obtained good results; there will be a chance for him to enter the Pingxi Prefecture’s martial arts academy and meet a great master as a result. He will be able to learn the most profound forms of martial arts and techniques. The moment he advance to a Martial Warrior in the future will mark a significant point in his career, truly allowing him to bring honor to his ancestors! The days of achieving meteoric success is imminent! Master Yan, you can now hold your head high when you say that you’re from the Liuhe Town and Qinghe County! Oh right, Master Yan, did your son manage to get into the top three...?”

“No!” Yan Dechang dejectedly replied without saying anything more.

When he heard Yan Dechang’s words, the cart driver cast a backwards glance at Yan Dechang. He finally realized that Yan Dechang wasn’t in a good mood. Conscious of his words, he revealed an embarrassed smile and kept quiet.

Halfway down the road, a clear and crisp sound of thundering hooves echoed from somewhere behind the bullock cart Yan Liqiang was riding in about two li away from Liuhe Town. As the thundering hooves gradually approached them, Yan Liqiang turned around only to see a steward accompanied by two of the Hong Clan’s servants as they rode three rhinodrake steeds and pursued them from behind. When the three rhinodrake steeds overtook their bullock cart, the steward from the Hong Clan pulled the reins, prompting the three steeds to slow down simultaneously, placing themselves in an adjacent position to the bullock cart.

Hong Clan’s steward was dressed in a long, blue robe with the two ends of his moustache at either side of his lips; a shrewd expression could be seen on his face. On the other hand, the two servants wore gray tight-fitting clothes along with a saber strapped to their waists, giving off the aura of intimidation.

The gaze of the Hong Clan’s steward observed the father son duo. He then revealed a wicked smile and greeted Yan Dechang. “Isn’t this Blacksmith Yan? What a coincidence! I never would have thought that we would run into each other here!”

“Oh, does Steward Hong also have matters to attend to outside?” Due to the fact that this fellow had actively greeted him, Yan Dechang couldn’t pretend as if he hadn’t hear it. Hence, he responded in a half-hearted manner.

“Hahaha! Hadn’t my Young Master Hong Tao been ranked in the top three in today’s martial arts preliminary exam? When our master found out this morning, he quickly sent me to deliver the good news to Young Master Hong Tao’s elder uncle and third uncle in an adamant manner. In two day’s time, our master is arranging a feast of celebration in honor of young master Hong Tao achievement of being ranked among the preliminary exam’s top three! Entering the martial arts academy of Pingxi Prefecture is already definite. As for your son...oh right, I heard he was knocked down from the arena by our Young Master Hong Tao today. He fainted on the spot and was badly injured. He had only fought in the preliminary exam once and was already sent to the medical hall after. I wonder if your son alright now?”

Yan Dechang’s face instantly darkened. He slightly clenched his fists, before stiffly replying, “My son is fine. Thank you Steward Hong for your concern. ”

“That’s great! It’s great that he’s alright!” Steward Hong’s expression did not change, he was still beaming with smiles. “My master had always said that everyone is one big family. We should help each other if something were to happen. We have collected a lot of good healing medicines in our medicine room back in our Hong Clan. If needed, you can come to our residence to look for our master. My master has always been kind hearted. He won’t refuse to help... ”

“Hmph...” Yan Dechang snorted directly.

“During these past few days, the rhinodrake steeds from our Hong Clan has travelled quite a far distance so their horseshoes have been slightly damaged. We’ll still need to trouble Blacksmith Yan to make a couple of sturdy horseshoes for our Hong Clan’s steeds someday. If your esteemed son is not successful in the county trial this year, he can still consider becoming a servant for our Hong Clan! Our master has always admired youngsters with a knack for improvement, someone just like your son. Hahaha...” laughed Steward Hong heartily. Once he had finished laughing, he didn’t bother to see Yan Dechang expression, and urged his steed to leave.

“Might I trouble Steward Hong to send a message to your Young Master Hong Tao...” Yan Liqiang suddenly spoke after maintaining his silence throughout their conversation. This caused Steward Hong’s movements to slow down and halt his tracks in order to shift his gaze to Yan Liqiang in puzzlement. He then curiously asked, “What would do you like for me to pass on to Young Master Hong Tao?”

“I would like to request Steward Hong to tell young master Hong Tao that I, Yan Liqiang, thank him for the lesson he taught me in the arena today!” Yan Liqiang smiled at Steward Hong; his demeanour was filled with dignity, everlasting elegance, grace, and calmness. There wasn’t the slightest trace of resentment or anger to be found in his tone. Instead, he appeared to be genuinely honest and sincere. “As the saying goes, losing and winning are common occurrences within military operations. And the loss that I, Liqiang, had suffered today was due to my lack of skill. With regards to Young Master Hong Tao’s methods in battle, Liqiang admires them greatly! I have no complaints in my heart! I only have Young Master Hong Tao’s drive and motivation as inspiration to push me forward. Liqiang will definitely put in a greater amount of effort from now on and exert myself harder with twice the effort as the result! I won’t disappoint the name my father has bestowed on me and I hope that one day, I will have another chance to ask for guidance and learn from Young Master Hong Tao!”

Head Steward Hong’s once relaxed face was now faintly distorted; it had begun to turn serious when he heard Yan Liqiang’s words. From the amount of spirit he felt oozing from Yan Liqiang’s words as well as the limitless fighting spirit emanating from him, was this youth really defeated in the preliminary exam?

Instead of ridiculing Yan Liqiang further, he cast a serious gaze towards Yan Liqiang. It was as if this was the first time he had encountered Yan Liqiang. After a moment of tension, he nodded his head without speaking. Soon after, he prompted his steeds to move and left with the two servants in tow, leaving behind only the thundering sounds of hooves. In the blink of an eye, they had already vanished without a trace from Yan Liqiang’s line of sight.

Yan Dechang also eyed his son in a peculiar manner. He had never expected that his reticent and introverted son would utter such a sentence in this situation. It was as though he had spoke from the bottom of his heart. After listening to Yan Liqiang’s words, his furtive gloom and dejection had been greatly reduced in spite of everything.

The bullock cart stopped on the road for a period of time. Only when dust storm kicked flying by the three rhinodrake steed had settled did the bullock cart move towards Liuhe Town once again at a slow and unhurried pace.

Both the Yan Clan and Hong Clan were situated within Liuhe Town. However, the latter is a rich family who had absolute authority, whereas the other was the town’s blacksmith. The issues between the two had originated from Yan Liqiang. Due to the fact that Yan Dechang had forced Yan Liqiang to diligently practice martial arts everyday during his youth. This essentially pushed Yan Liqiang to make a small name for himself amongst the youngsters in Liuhe Town. Unfortunately, Hong Clan also had a young master who was aged similarly to Yan Liqiang. Thus,, the Hong Clan would naturally never allow their reputation to be tarnished by that of the son of a blacksmith in Liuhe Town under these circumstances. It was when Yan Liqiang had reached the age of ten in particular when the Hong Clan had been directly and also indirectly targeting the Yan Clan. Moreover, Hong Tao of the Hong Clan had been trying to suppress Yan Liqiang further...

...

Yan Liqiang’s residence was very easy to locate in Liuhe Town as his residence was situated right beside the Willow River. The entirety their land, which was inclusive of the courtyard, rooms, stable, as well as Yan Dechang’s blacksmith workshop occupied a total land area of more than three mu. But even from a distance, one would still be able to see the large chimney above their residence’s blacksmith workshop.

Apart from Yan Liqiang and Yan Dechang, there were also two other people living in their residence. One of of two was a disciple named Zhou Tiezhu whom Yan Dechang was currently nurturing within the blacksmith workshop, whereas the other was an old servant named Mother Wu.

Mother Wu was mute. From as far as Yan Liqiang could remember, Mother Wu had always been living together with Yan Liqiang and his father. According to Yan Dechang, Mother Wu had been a refugee and in the year when Yan Liqiang was born, Mother Wu had fled from the soldiers and ran all the way up north to the Qinghe County all by herself. Finally during the heavy winter, she caught a cold and collapsed by the road in a state of near death. Yan Dechang had been the one who found her, he took her in and called a physician to heal her illness. Eventually, he allowed her to stay in his residence in return for being responsible for doing menial chores of the house. Such a task included chores such as doing the laundries, preparing meals, and cleaning. From then on, Mother Wu had always stayed with them in this residence.

When Yan Liqiang returned, Mother Wu behaved like usual. She had already finished cooking the dishes and was currently warming the food in the pot. Upon seeing the return of Yan Liqiang and Yan Dechang, the mute Mother Wu quickly took out the dishes from the pot and served them.

There were four people eating: Yan Dechang, Yan Liqiang, Zhou Tiezhu, as well as Mother Wu. Yan Liqiang had heard from his father that when Mother Wu had first came to their home, she had refused to eat at the table even if she were to be beaten to death. However, after having stayed at Yan’s residence for so long while wholeheartedly doing chores, Yan Dechang requested that she ate with them on the table as though they were one family.

The meals that Yan Dechang, Zhou Tiezhu and Mother Wu ate were very simple. It consisted of string beans, bok choy, radish soup, rice and a plate of deliberately made salty fermented soybean curd.

On the other hand, Yan Liqiang’s meal was made to be more sumptuous than theirs due to his bodily conditions. The table was filled with ordinary homemade dishes with the exception being the small pot that had been placed before him. When the lid of the pot was removed, a concentrated and rich aroma of ginseng quail stew pervaded the air from the pot...

This was something special that Yan Dechang had especially prepared for Yan Liqiang. He was determined to not take any of it for himself. As for Mother Wu who had seeked refuge at Yan Liqiang’s house, it could have been said that she had seen her shares of cannibalism before. Hence, she never touched meat or fish after she was safe. And as for Zhou Tiezhu, as Yan Dechang’s disciple, he was awfully well-behaved in front of Yan Dechang. He naturally wouldn’t behave in an inappropriate manner on the dining table. He would eat whatever Yan Dechang ate, so much so that whenever he saw a dish that Yan Liqiang loved to eat, he would instinctively avoid it. He either grabbed less of it or completely refrained from eating it. Thus, because of this, the broth cooked in the pot was solely eaten by Yan Liqiang.

The income of this household obtained had only come from Yan Dechang. The sole blacksmith, Yan Dechang, was capable of supporting the four as well as a rhinodrake steed. On a daily basis, they would eat as the steed chewed. Although his wages as a blacksmith were not bad, earning him more than the average Joe, the household still lived a fairly poor life. This was as Yan Liqiang in particular still needed to participate in martial arts training. There was a saying in this world, and the saying goes: the poor studies while the wealthy trains in martial arts. Due to the resources required for one to properly train in the martial arts, the expenses were much greater. Hence, this was why their financial situation had become more tight.

Apart from times of celebration, such as important festivities like Chinese New Year where Yan Dechang would request that Mother Wu add a few more dishes and eat some meat dishes with Yan Liqiang and Zhou Tiezhu. Yan Liqiang was the only one who was able to have fish and meat throughout three meals in a day in the entire household. Therefore, he was never lacking in nutritions.

Because of his job as a blacksmith, so long as he ate his fill and consumed enough salt, he would be okay with not eating a lavish meal. But the same would not apply for a person training in martial arts. These were words that Yan Dechang had once told Yan Liqiang.

...

As he gazed at the set of entirely different dishes on the table, he couldn’t help but reminisce about the fact that this day of special treatment was similar to the ones he had received from the past few years. He once again found himself gazing at Yan Dechang who only had two sets of clothes to change in and out of for the four seasons of a year. Yan Liqiang couldn’t help but feel the trembling of his tear ducts and began to feel an indescribable weight from his chopsticks...

After dinner, Mother Wu put away the dishes. Zhou Tiezhu usually lived atop the workshop, but had returned to the blacksmith workshop in order to watch over the furnace and tools. Yan Dechang had announced that he needed to leave for a while. Without speaking, he changed his clothes and immediately entered the backyard, placed a saddle on the rhinodrake steed, mounted it, and departed. Thus, Yan Liqiang was the only one left at home with nothing else to do.

In the past, he never had any free time. During the time between his dinner and bedtime, apart from leaving time for his food to digest, he would simply cultivate in the backyard of his home. Yan Dechang would stand by the side and personally supervise Yan Liqiang. He couldn’t slack even for a day.

Yan Liqiang’s modest reputation amongst the youths of Liuhe Town was gained with every drop of his sweat over these few years. It wasn’t a fluke in the slightest.

The front of Yan Liqiang’s house faced the side of the Willow River. There was also a water hammer that was powered by water within the blacksmith workshop. The backyard and front yard of Yan Liqiang’s house were polar opposites, behind the backyard was an extremely secluded bamboo forest.

The stable and fodder storage room were located below the two tile-roofed houses in the backyard. There was also a peach tree in the backyard with a weapon rack underneath it. There were four types of weapons sitting on the rack: a sabre, a spear, a sword, and a staff. The staff was known as ‘The Grandfather of Weapons’, the sword was known as the ‘The Gentleman of Weapons’, the sabre was known as the ‘The General of Weapons’, while the spear was known as the ‘The King of Weapons’. These were the four main types of weapons which were often used for optimal proficiency in killing. Over 90% of martial arts practitioners would choose one of these four weapon types as their primary weapon. However, it was uncommon for staffs to be chosen due to the fact that it possessed inferior killing power. Hence, the majority of people would opt for the sabre, spear, or sword as their primary weapon.

The saying of ‘a month to master the staff, a year to master the sabre but a lifetime to master the spear’ implied that the spear was the most difficult weapon to master amongst these four weapon types. Subsequently, the number of people trained in spear techniques were relatively fewer in comparison to those who trained in sabres and swords techniques.

Nonetheless, Yan Liqiang’s primary weapon was the spear.

He hadn’t determined this on his own, but rather because Yan Dechang had already chosen it for him when he had begun his training. He hadn’t the slightest clue as to why Yan Dechang, who was not knowledgeable in martial arts, would select such a difficult route for him. Over these past few years, Yan Liqiang had been training with the spear, as well as learning its fundamentals.

There was another rack not far from that weapon rack. Under one of the shelves on that rack, there was a row of iron beads, each about the size of a chicken egg, tied together with a string. This was the prop that Yan Liqiang used in his spear practice. That string of iron beads was smeared with a layer of fluorescence powder. Although not visible during the daytime, the string of iron beads glowed lush green under the moonlight at night. They were very eye catching and could be used for training.

The basic techniques when using a spear revolved around three words– outward, inward, and stab. Outward spear parry, inward spear parry and stabbing spear. Outward parrying was for defense, inward parrying utilized one’s strength, while stabbing of course referred to offense!

Although Yan Liqiang had been training in these three simple words and three basic movements for a period of eight years, he had yet to be even considered proficient.

Yan Liqiang was still cultivating due to the fact that he had yet to set a foundation and wasn’t considered a true Martial Warrior. He was only able to cultivate its stance and method, but without a foundation, he wouldn’t be able to become a Martial Warrior in this era. No matter how hard he tried, he wouldn’t be able to fully grasp any martial arts.

When he was knocked off from the arena by Hong Tao with the Iron Palm technique, he hadn’t expected that Hong Tao had already begun cultivating it. That was due to the fact that Hong Tao was just like him, both of them had no fundamentals and weren’t Martial Warriors yet. The Iron Palm technique required a lot of time to cultivate. It wasn’t very wise to waste a huge amount of time on these kinds of external skills. There was a saying: ‘Train the skills first, then train the fists. The skills come before the fists. If one were to cultivate martials art without any skill, they will achieve nothing in the end.’ The fists were considered external whereas the skills were considered internal. If one wished to train their skills, they would first need to build their foundation. Otherwise, even though their external skills may appear to be impressive, it wouldn’t support them for long. This was due to the fact that, in this end, they were nothing but the reflection of a flower in the mirror or of the moon in the water, so fleetingly beautiful but impossible to grasp.

There was a time limit for one to set their foundation as God didn’t allow too much time for one to squander. Essentially, if one had yet to set their foundation before the age of twenty five, then their hope in setting their foundation within that lifetime would be extremely slim. That also meant that impossible for them to advance as a Martial Warrior. Yan Dechang’s disciple, Zhou Tiezhu, was still far from setting his foundation after the age of twenty five and subsequently lost his chance to establish it. It was only then, that he came to Yan Dechang to learn a trade for his livelihood.

The reality was that warriors were virtually everywhere in his previous world. After casually training in any fighting skill for a period of a few years, one would possess a slightly robust body. They would then carry blades and slaughter without hesitation before proclaiming themselves as warriors. However, these warriors would be considered trash compared to the standards of this world.

In this world, one’s foundation was a vital standard for becoming a Martial Warrior. In order to establish one’s foundation, one would have to pass three stages. Each of these stages being harder than the last and had a specific objective to determine whether one had passed. Only those who made it through these three stages and had established their foundation had the right to proclaim themselves as a Martial Warrior. Only these Martial Warriors were able to truly cultivate all kinds of skills and battle techniques to a profound level.

Yan Liqiang had been cultivating since he was young until now, drenched in sweat every day in this small yard. Yet he had not even made it through the first of the three stages.

The first of the three stages was the Horse Stance. This was a necessity that any martial practitioners would need to have.

The Horse Stance might seem simple to anyone at first glance, but in actuality, there was a high chance that not even a single person out of a hundred could make it past this stage.

How would one be considered to have passed the Horse Stance? They had to achieve the unity of waist and horse whilst exerting all the strength in their body through their feet. One could only be considered to have passed if they could perform the stance as if they were on a horse. When one has passed this stage, they would be able to fight against ten with just their fist and leg techniques, being able to throw most of them far away.

Yan Dechang had spent a fortune on a rhinodrake steed for the sake of helping Yan Liqiang pass this stage. The rhidodrake steed was kept at home in order to help Yan Liqiang learn horsemanship and also to allow him to comprehend the enormous power that stemmed from the unity between a man and a steed when one struck out with his fist or spear while the rhinodrake steed charged forward.

A fist strike from a person who had a true grasp of the horse stance would seem as though he was mounted on a horse. The energy from his soles, his thigh, waist, and back could be transmitted to his fists. This kind of fist attack would easily crush an ordinary person. There’s a saying that goes: ‘the arm is no match for the thigh’.

If an ordinary person were to swing their fist at someone, they would use the strength from their arms. Those slightly more trained could utilize the power of their pectoral muscles as well as their back. Professional boxers on Earth could partially utilize their waist power. To be able to use even the power of your toes was a sign of success in the Horse Stance. This was the reason as to why all practitioners considered the Horse Stance a necessity. Succeeding in Horse Stance was akin to gaining an additional power of a horse. Even when standing on the ground, it would be as if they were riding on a horse, moving yet staying in place.

Yan Liqiang would never have understood this principle on Earth but in this world, everyone seemed to understand this.

However, understanding didn’t mean that one could achieve it. For instance, back on Earth, every high school student knew that atomic bombs originated from Albert Einstein’s mass-energy equation. However, this didn’t mean that just anyone could create an atomic bomb even if they understood the mass-energy equivalence.

Apart from willpower, temperament and hard work, some other unknown method might be needed to succeed in the Horse Stance. As an ordinary blacksmith, Yan Dechang could only do his best to help Yan Liqiang make it past this stage. Due to fact that he could not comprehend the profoundness and the fact that he couldn’t afford to hire a teacher for Yan Liqiang, Yan Dechang could only act like those parents who have great hopes for their child and followed the experiences that were passed down by the others. He purchased a rhinodrake steed for Yan Liqiang so that he could comprehend the profoundness of the Horse Stance after mastering horsemanship.

In this world, true abilities, profound secret techniques, as well as the understanding of skills and martial techniques were extremely valuable. These understandings and abilities were akin to highly valuable patents in a commercial world. They were not owned by any average person, but instead they were exclusive to only a minority. Only the truly rich and powerful clans had the resources and assets to hire famous masters. Not to mention others, even the Hong Clan of the Liuhe Town did not have enough of either to hire famous masters.

All the truly famous masters possessed a cultivation of at least Martial Warrior level. They possessed abilities as well as secret techniques and were also willing to impart them to others.

Yang Liqiang knew that although there were no such people Qinghe County, there were two in the Pingxi Prefecture. One of them, with the surname Song, lived in the capital city of the Pingxi Prefecture and taught the Horse Stance. Nearly one third of those who had acknowledged him as master were able to make it past the Horse Stance stage foundation after a decade of hardship in cultivation.

It went without saying that Yan Liqiang’s father wished to send Yan Liqiang to learn from him, but he couldn’t provide the honorarium to pay the master. At least a hundred taels of gold were needed in order to become a disciple of the man with the surname of Song, and it was absolutely non-negotiable. The entire property of Yan Clan, including the blacksmith workshop, was only worth twenty taels of gold.

Without an abundance of wealth, how would it be possible to learn any true abilities?

The scenario in which one would be apprenticed to a master simply by carrying a basket of chicken eggs, some slices of pork, and two bottles of wine would only be possible in films back on Earth. As for the scenarios in films where the master would take care of you, teach you the secret techniques of martial arts for free, allow you to freeload in his home, focus on the growth of your cultivation, and even have his wife give birth to a beautiful junior martial sister for you to flirt with were basically impossible, even in your dreams. If Yue Buqun[1] from Jin Yong’s novel were to be born in the Silver Continent, he would practically be worshipped as an influential figure like Lei Feng[2].

This Martial Arts County Trial was vital because those who excelled in the County Trial would have a chance to join a first-rate martial arts academy to gain skills. Having the right to become a disciple of a first-rate martial arts academy meant that even ordinary people would be able to develop some abilities. Thus, it was the only way to advance as a Martial Warrior and the reason as to why money was involved.

Martial Warrior wasn’t just a mere title. In this world, everyone strived to succeed in creating a foundation in order to achieve this title. High social classes were a step ahead ahead of the commoners in terms of privilege. Thus becoming a Martial Warrior signified that one had become a member of a higher social class. With the combination of hope and the stepping stones to one’s meteoric success, they would be the best of the best no matter where they went.

In Ancient China, there was an old saying that went: ‘The worth of other pursuits is small, the study of books excels them all!’ However in this current world, it was ‘The worth of other pursuits is small, the study of martial arts surpasses all!’

The only reason behind the grandeur of Liuhe Town’s Hong Clan was Hong Tao’s great-grandfather. In the past, he was the only Martial Warrior in the entire Liuhe Town. Because of this, Hong Tao’s great-grandfather was able to acquire a vast amount of property for the Hong Clan in Liuhe Town. Tens of stores, several oil and rice mills, and also a few thousand mu of fertile agricultural lands of Liuhe Town all belonged to the Hong Clan. The efforts of a single person had blessed the sons of three generations...

As he thought up to this point, Yan Liqiang was struck with realization. He understood immediately; he completely understood the situation of the Hong Clan.

The Hong Clan hadn’t had a single Martial Warrior for three generations now. The was a saying that went, ‘The influence of a Martial Warrior is terminated in the third generation’. Although the Hong Clan currently seemed to be well-off, the Hong Clan’s head, Hong Tao’s grandfather, was probably already filled with a sense of crisis since long ago. Hong Tao was the only person among the younger generation of the Hong Clan that had any hopes of becoming a potential Martial Warrior. Hence, the Hong Clan was anxiously making an all-out effort during this County Trial.

It went without saying that Hong Tao becoming a Martial Warrior would be the most ideal outcome for the Hong Clan. However, as long as no one else among the current generation became a Martial Warrior in Liuhe Town, the position of the Hong Clan in Liuhe Town would still be secure even if Hong Tao couldn’t become a Martial Warrior. From then onwards, the Hong Clan would still be able to live in a glorious manner and linger at death’s door while entrusting their hopes to the future.

Therefore, making Hong Tao a Martial Warrior was the Hong Clan’s main objective and their utmost concern, whereas preventing Yan Liqiang from becoming a Martial Warrior was their secondary objective.

Recalling his bitter experience on the arena today, the ice ant, and Qi Donglai’s nervous expression when he saw him, Yan Liqiang came to a realisation.

Qing Donglai was also from an ordinary clan in Liuhe Town.

How despicable!

Yan Liqiang’s experiences in his past life had allowed him to understand a truth since long ago– escaping from a problem was simply impossible. The problems you face are destined to be encountered by you. Even running or shrinking away from these problems will prove to be of no use. These problems will continue to attack you under different guises, and in the end, you will have less and less room to maneuver. Eventually, you will be left without room to retreat.

When faced with a problem, your only choices are to defeat it or let it defeat you. There is never a third option.

Even if this principle were to be disregarded. God had allowed him a second life and arranged for him to be reincarnated in such a magical world. Moreover, God had also chose such a path for him. Because of this, Yan Liqiang believed that he might as well live his life in a vigorous manner and head down this path with determination in order to view the differences in the scenery on this path and find out where his final destination would be.

He had managed to see through the Hong Clan’s plan. As he remembered his injury, boundless will to fight suddenly welled up in Yan Liqiang’s heart, completely merging his entire being into his current self.

‘If a man doesn’t struggle, how different is he from a salted fish?’

Under the moonlight, Yan Liqiang murmured to himself while he watched over the quiet backyard as a smile appeared on his face....

Yan Liqiang had trouble sleeping throughout the night. This being the first night of his reincarnation, he lay in bed, lost in thought as he pondered over everything that happened before.

Especially after midnight had passed, the wound on his body inflicted by Hong Tao’s Iron Palm was still burning with pain, as though someone was roasting him under a bonfire. This made it that much more difficult for him to fall asleep, as he tossed and turned restlessly in bed. At the same time, he was also grateful that Hong Tao had yet to cultivate his Iron Palm to a higher realm. It was rumored that should the wielder of the Iron Palm ever cultivate this technique to a high enough level, that palm would be capable of destroying and burning a person’s internal organs upon impact, which allowed the wielder to easily claim the lives of their enemies in battle. What’s more, the force from the Iron Palm was capable of causing great injury to one’s lungs. So even if a person were to survive getting hit by the Iron Palm, a permanent injury would remain in their lungs, one which was very difficult to cure.

Just like that, his mind was occupied with both his state of discomfort, and thinking over all that had occurred to him. And so before he realized it, soon the first cry of the rooster flew into his ears. Outside, the sky was still dark. This was usually the time when Yan Liqiang would wake up to begin his training.

Yan Liqiang quickly got up from his bed. After washing up, he changed into another set of clothes. He ate his breakfast with Yan Dechang and Mother Yu, and afterward, he carried his packed luggage on his back, before heading out to rein the rhinodrake steed from the stable and setting up the saddle. Yan Dechang sat in front on the rhinodrake steed, while Yan Liqiang sat behind him with his hands wrapped around Yan Dechang’s waist. Both of them rode the rhinodrake steed out of the residence.

Atop the rhinodrake steed’s head was a horn not too different from that of a rhinoceros’s. Its skin was rock solid, covered in a faintly visible layer of scales. Ordinarily, a rhinodrake steeds’ back was usually two meters in height, with limbs that were lanky and powerful. They appeared to be larger than ordinary horses by more than half their size. So if an ordinary horse were placed before a rhinodrake steed, it would be no different from placing a Suzuki Alto in front of an Audi. It was simply not possible to compare the two. This rhinodrake steed was the single most expensive object within Yan Liqiang’s household.

Although this rhinodrake steed hadn’t been the best in stock when they first bought it, it still could not be considered as too bad. To the rhinodrake steed, it could effortlessly gallop while supporting two people.

For ordinary households, even if they wanted to learn horsemanship or undergo martial arts training, the majority would opt to buy ordinary horses instead. When it came to ordinary horses, apart from being able to ride them, they could also assist in performing various tasks and were easier to rear. However, what Yan Dechang chose to buy was the far more expensive, rhinodrake steed. The price required to purchase one was practically the equivalent of buying five ordinary horses. Yan Liqiang had once asked Yan Dechang for the reason behind his purchase of the rhinodrake steed. To which Yan Dechang had replied by telling him that all cavalry troops had a rhinodrake steed to ride off to war and moreover, those who trained in the spear arts would most definitely have a rhinodrake steed to ride in the future. Recalling that scene, Yan Liqiang was once again rendered speechless.

Yan Dechang had spared no effort in his investment of Yan Liqiang.

By the time the two of them left their house, the sky had already brightened up quite a bit. Quite a number of people were already awake–martial art practitioners, merchants of small businesses, and people selling vegetables–all of which were making their way through Liuhe Town’s pathways.

When the people on the road saw Yan Liqiang and his father riding out on their rhinodrake steed, each and every one of them wore a slightly odd expression on their face.

Even without saying anything, Yan Liqiang could tell with just one glance alone, that yesterday’s news of his crushing defeat had already been widely spread throughout Liuhe Town.

“Have you heard? Blacksmith Yan’s son was severely injured by the young master of the Hong Clan during the county seat’s martial arts preliminary exam yesterday...”

“I’ve heard he even coughed up blood and fainted. A couple of his bones were even fractured. He shouldn’t be able to do much for the next few months!”

“Blacksmith Yan’s son has always been revered as the best. It seems to me that Hong Clan’s young master is even more amazing!”

As they were listening to the idle gossip coming from the jobless people by the road, Yan Dechang’s expression turned increasingly sour. He had no choice but to put on a cold front and shake the reins in his hand, prompting the rhinodrake steed to move faster.

The two of them had just passed the town’s entrance when they suddenly crossed paths with Butcher Liu and his son who were also driving a bullock cart. Apparently, they had just come out using another of the town’s pathways. Both pairs of father and son had just so happened to bump into one another at the town’s entrance coincidentally.

“Hehe... if it isn’t Blacksmith Yan? Why are you heading out so early with your son? You’re not rushing to the medical hall right now, are you?” As Butcher Liu caught sight of Yan Dechang and Yan Liqiang, a smile had instantly formed on his face. Both he and his fat, useless son fixated their gazes on Yan Liqiang as they gloated over his defeat.

When they were younger, Butcher Liu’s son had constantly been punched by Yan Liqiang. And due to the children’s conflict, the Yan and Liu families had always remained at odds with each other.

“My son has never been better! Who says we’re going to the medical hall?”

“Hahaha! I already know about what happened to Liqiang in the preliminary exams. In fact, the Hong Clan is going to host a banquet just for that occasion. Just last night, the steward of Hong Clan paid me a little visit. Since the Hong Clan has booked up so many pig heads, I decided to rush off first thing in the morning to collect all the pigs outside of town...” said Butcher Liu in all earnestness, immensely proud of himself. “I’ve already said it before–when it comes to martial arts training, it’s not something suitable for just anyone. Common folks like us should only treat the martial arts as a method to strengthen our bodies. Don’t think too deeply about it. It’s not that easy to become a Martial Warrior. In the entirety of Liuhe Town, only Old Master Hong is a Martial Warrior. As for the rest of us, we should just focus on what we’re supposed to do. Take my son as an example! He should learn how to butcher a pig like me, just like how those who need to forge ironware should just forge ironware. Isn’t that good enough?”

Ever since he was young, Butcher Liu’s son would constantly complain whenever he performed the Horse Stance. In contrast to his reaction to martial arts, he would light up with joy whenever the topic of eating was brought up. In truth, he simply wasn’t cut out for martial arts. As time gradually passed, he had learned the skill of butchering pigs from his father and became a butcher. Apart from the conflict between the children of the Yan and Liu Clans, Butcher Liu took every opportunity to spread rumors saying that Yan Liqiang wasn’t cut out for martial arts. He would end up just like his own son, ultimately, learning the trade of ironware from Yan Dechang and becoming nothing but a blacksmith in the end.

In some cases, the contents of a human’s heart was truly an ugly sight to behold. If one wasn’t doing well, then they couldn’t bear to see other people doing well, either. They weren’t capable of jumping out of their own social class. But at the same time, they also couldn’t stand to see people who could climb out of their social class. The moment they discovered that there was someone at their side who showed the first sign of progress, their hearts would rage with jealousy, which they would soon follow up with attacks and slander. To some people, what brought them joy in life was seeing others in misery.

When dealing with people like Butcher Liu and his son, Yan Liqiang had no problem seeing through them with just a single glance. At this moment, he didn’t even feel like talking to them. He only gazed indifferently at the two. When dealing with these sorts of people, the only method was to use success and strength to drive them to despair until they finally respected you, even as they crawled on the ground. To leave them in despair, up till the point of being incapable of speaking aloud in his presence. Apart from this, to do anything else was meaningless.

“You don’t have to worry!” Yan Dechang replied with a cold expression on his face. He shook the reins, prompting the rhinodrake steed to quicken its pace into a gallop, leaving Butcher Liu and his son in the dust within the blink of an eye.

“Hmph...Pui!...” As his gaze trailed after the retreating figures of the Yan Clan’s father-son duo, Butcher Liu ferociously spat out a mouthful of phlegm on the ground. He laughed coldly, “I’ll wait and see just how long your Yan Clan can keep this up and how strong can your son even get in the future...”

The road they traveled on was an old route that led to the county seat. Yan Liqiang’s body hadn’t fully healed yet, and he couldn’t withstand the vigorous bouncing of the road. Even when Yan Dechang maintained a slow pace, they were still traveling faster than a bullock cart. Not even twenty minutes in, and the both of them were dismounting after having arrived at the Liuhe Dock, which wasn’t too far away from the county seat.

“When you disembark at the Huanglong County Dock, there will, of course, be someone there to fetch you. The man picking you up is roughly around the same age as me. He only has four fingers on his right hand, and just calling him Uncle Qian will do. He will make arrangements for you. You should be able to stay at Huanglong County in peace and recuperate for the time being. You won’t have to worry about us back home, and you don’t need to write any letters or even send us news. If something happens, I will come find you. The people there will notify me as well...”

Yan Dechang explained to Yan Liqiang in all seriousness as they stood at the side of the dock. After he had finished, he fished out a dense silk pouch from his clothes and stuffed it into Yan Liqiang’s arms. “In here you’ll find the money I’ve prepared for you for your journey. If there’s anything you need, just buy it, no questions asked. Don’t concern yourself about saving money when you’re out there. I’ve already placed the medicinal liquor in your bag. Remember to apply it frequently!”

“Okay! I’ll remember!”

“I believe that my son will be able to become a Martial Warrior and bring me glory in the future!” Yan Dechang heavily patted Yan Liqiang’s shoulders.

Yan Liqiang could only roughly nod his head.

After he had finished briefing Yan Liqiang, Yan Dechang sent his son off to board a cargo ship that was still unloading several bundles of wood.

“Boss Wang, this is my son. Sorry to trouble you...”

“Hahaha! What’s there to be troubled by? It’s just on the way...”

“Here are two bottles of aged wine for you and the crew to try out, to help keep warm at night...”

“Hahaha! Master Yan, you’re too courteous! Too courteous...” Boss Wang’s expression instantly lightened up as he accepted the wine.

After about ten minutes, the cargo ship began to move. One of the sails was hoisted, while a few of the crew members on the ship used a pole to push against the shore. Soon, the cargo ship moved away from the dock, sailing towards the remote distance.

Yan Dechang hadn’t left yet. Instead, he pulled the reins of the rhinodrake steed as he stood on the dock by the shore, his eyes trailing after the departing ship from beginning until the end.

The ship had sailed far away on the waters, and the dock had gradually vanished from Yan Liqiang’s line of sight, but he could still see the silhouette of a hazy figure still standing at the side of the dock.

He was struck with an indescribable emotion, his heart welling up with an overwhelming feeling of exhilaration.

...

After living there for so long, this was the first time that Yan Liqiang had left the Qinghe County. For the past fourteen years–his whole life–Yan Liqiang had never once stepped out of Qinghe County.

After going through the short-lived pain of separation, Yan Liqiang politely refused the cabin that Boss Wang had arranged for him. Instead, he sat on a pile of wood on the ship, taking in the riverbank scenery in high spirits.

For a person who had been reincarnated into this world from a life on earth during the 21st century, this world here, along with the sky and everywhere else he could see, reminded him of Shangri-la. The scenery on the riverbank resembled that of the Xixi Wetland [1] in nearly all aspects. Even the river water would make people remember Xu Zhimo’s ‘Saying Goodbye to Cambridge Again’ [2].

The cargo ship wasn’t moving at that fast of a pace and was sailing in accordance with the flow of the river. A couple of the crew members even threw down their fishing lines. Not long after, the bells tied to one of the fishing lines began to ring. They pulled up the line, hooking up a large black carp measuring about a whole chi long. It thrashed around wildly, causing the crew to burst into laughter...

By the time Yan Liqiang finished eating his fish with the ship’s crew and drinking his delicious fish soup, they had already been sailing for a couple of hours, and soon came to a stop at a dock.

Huanglong County, he was here at last!

Huanglong County was a huge county with a population higher than that of Qinghe County. Their rate of economic growth had progressed much faster than Qinghe County. Thus, the wharf of Huanglong County was naturally a lot more livelier than Qinghe’s.

Around a hundred boats of all kinds were currently docked at the Huanglong County’s wharf, with a multitude of warehouses situated next to each other on the wharf. The laborers loaded and unloaded goods like ants. Coming to this world and watching the liveliness of this wharf, everything seemed especially interesting to Yan Liqiang.

“Oh, be careful...”

Just as Yan Liqiang stepped foot onto the dock, a laborer had suddenly slipped while loading his goods onto a ship more than ten meters away. He fell into the river with the sack he’d been carrying on his back, causing the surrounding people to cry out in alarm.

Since he was close at hand to the person who’d fallen into the river, Yan Liqiang rushed over without a second thought to see if he could assist in any way.

“Oh no, that’s the sack of cotton yarn I only just received. Don’t let it get damaged by the water!” A merchant-like person hopped around the boat. “Hurry and get it out of the water!”

Both the person and the goods had fallen into the water. Yet the first thing to cross that merchant’s mind was to save the goods instead of the person. Yan Liqiang was close to cursing at him. He surveyed the area and noticed a piece of rope lying on the ground nearby. He dashed to pick it up, ready to rescue the laborer.

However, someone else beat Yan Liqiang to the punch. Just as Yan Liqiang picked up the rope and ran back near the water, an old, bare-footed boatman on another small boat at the side held out a long pole of about seven to eight meters long. He dipped the pole into the water and then lightly flicked it up. The laborer’s sturdy body was effortlessly thrown out from the water and landed steadily on the dock.

“THE COTTON, THE COTTON!” That labor who had just come out from the water didn’t have the time nor leisure to worry about his own safety. He was frantically yelling the second he landed.

The old boatman dipped his pole into the water once again. When he flicked it up, a big sack came flying out from the water and landed on the dock.

There was only a two second interval in between the rescue of both the person and the sack. The entire process was carried out efficiently and was gracefully executed. The panic from earlier died down as the people at the dock and on the boats by the side couldn’t help but to cheer. “Such an impressive display of skill...” That old boatman only responded by cupping his fist in silence to the surrounding people. “Please excuse my performance,” he said meekly with a calm expression before returning to the hold of the ship and resumed his work, acting as if what had just happened was something trivial and hardly worth mentioning.

Yan Liqiang was still holding the rope in awe. He could tell that although the old boatman had been using a pole on the boat, the movement in which he had used to get the laborer and the sack out of water was a spear technique because of the way he had been holding the pole. His right hand gripped the pole at its end, fully covered in his palm. At that time, the old boatman had been standing at the edge of the boat and yet his lower body was as firm as a rock. He had been able to lift up a man weighing over a hundred kilograms and goods that weighed tens of kilograms with minimal effort. It was as if he’d picked up two bean sprouts from a plate with chopsticks. This was definitely unachievable without a few decades’ worth of experience in spear techniques.

For someone like this to just be a boatman, it seemed apparent that this old boatman hadn’t manage to complete his foundation. Without a foundation, the old boatman’s spear technique would always remain an external skill no matter how hard he trained. He reckoned that the old boatman’s spear technique had already reached its pinnacle and was impossible to advance any further. Thus it could only decline, along with the stamina of the old boatman, in the future. In the end, all the effort he had put forth in training his spear technique over a few decades were going to fade away, like the reflection of flowers in the mirror and the moon in the water.

‘If one cultivates martial arts without any skill, they will achieve nothing in the end.’

That merchant from earlier hastily ordered his workers to remove all the veils from the sack and dry them. It was fortunate that the veils hadn’t been in the water for long, so not many had been soaked. The water in the river here was crystal clear, so it wouldn’t stain the veils in such a manner that would affect their quality. Well, at least the magnitude of the damage wasn’t that great.

“What a pity.....” A voice abruptly rang out from behind Yan Liqiang.

When Yan Liqiang turned around, he could see that a middle-aged man was standing not too far behind him.

He was a middle-aged man around his forties and was fully dressed in the town government’s dark red army uniform. He was also wearing a gorgeous cowhide leather belt with a tiger head buckle, which was tucked right below his belly. He appeared to be a first rank commandant among the military. The middle-aged man had a beard and seemed to be lazy and slovenly. He even reeked of alcohol.

Other military officers would have a weapon like a saber or a sword hanging on their belt. However this person had a wine gourd hanging on his belt instead.

By the time Yan Liqiang turned around, he had noticed that the gaze of this man had already been directed towards Yan Liqiang. He was startled for a moment as the look on his face grew conflicted all of a sudden, he then started to mutter to himself. “Such resemblance...”

Yan Liqiang’s gaze swept over this man’s right hand and discovered that he had a missing pinkie.

“It is a pleasure to see you, Uncle Qian!” Yan Liqiang hurriedly bowed to this man.

The expression on the man’s face had already recovered as he scanned through Yan Liqiang’s figure, his gaze swept through the piece of rope that was still in Yan Liqiang’s hands. The hint of a smile appeared on his face. “Were you planning on rescuing him?”

Yan Liqiang dropped the rope, slightly embarrassed. “The human life is beyond value, I couldn’t stand by and just do nothing....”

“Hahaha, the value of human life is indeed beyond our imagination and we shouldn’t just stand by and do nothing!” The middle-aged man laughed heartily. He reached out to give a pat on Yan Liqiang’s back. “Let us go. I will guarantee that you will live a better life here in Huanglong County than in Qinghe County...”

After their meeting at the wharf, this man left with Yan Liqiang and walked to the roadside not too far away.

The road here was bustling with activity. There were way more carriages and crowds here than the Qinghe County.

The wharf was a place where people and goods came and went. Hence, there were a countless number of bullock carts and horse carriages pulled over on the roadside, just outside of the wharf, to transport passengers as well as goods.

Just when Yan Liqiang was wondering if this man he referred to as ‘Uncle Qian’ was going to call for a carriage, before he even had the chance to flag for a carriage, one had already stopped nearby. A horse carriage that looked to be specially used for carrying passengers was already heading towards them. It came to a halt before them and the coachman of the carriage nimbly leaped off from the cart as he nodded his head and excessively bowed to Uncle Qian in greeting.

“Uncle Qian, ride my carriage, ride my carriage.....”

“Hahaha, young man, you have sharp eyes. Alright then, I shall give you face and ride on your carriage...”

A smile immediately broke across the coachman’s face as he immediately opened the door of his carriage for Yan Liqiang and that man. “Where are you heading to today, Uncle Qian? Is it the Drunken Fragrance Inn or perhaps the Pleasure Fragrance Court? I heard that a few gorgeous ladies have arrived at the Pleasure Fragrance Court over the past few days and are waiting for Uncle Qian.”

“Cough cough...” The man with the surname Qian glanced at Yan Liqiang then waved his hand. “Stop your nonsense, just bring us back to the Weaponsmiths Quarter...”

“Roger that......”

After both of them got into the horse carriage, the coachman closed the carriage door and climbed onto the front seat. Upon hearing the shake of the reins, Yan Liqiang felt the the horse pulling the carriage start to gallop.

The two-wheeled horse carriage was extremely fast and lightweight and there was also plenty of privacy within the carriage. Other than the shaking within the carriage, so long as one tried looking inward from outside of the carriage, one would not be able to see nor hear the activities going on inside when the curtains of the windows were drawn.

Yan Liqiang, who had entered the carriage, was actually already full of questions since long ago.

Since his father could entrust him into the care of this man with the surname Qian at times like this, it was evident that the trust and relationship his father shared with this man were definitely not ordinary. However, he found it odd that his father had never mentioned such a close friend in Huanglong County before. This man with the surname Qian had also never visited his home. The relationship between the two was most likely difficult to be understood.

It was a little shaky inside the carriage. The man with the surname of Qian sat across Yan Liqiang. He studied Yan Liqiang’s face, and again a conflicted look resurfaced in his expression. “Your father has told me about you. Although the Hong Clan could be considered somewhat of a tyrant in your Qinghe County, their clan hasn’t had a single Martial Warrior for three generations. Even if their claws are to grow again, they won’t be able to reach all the way here to Huanglong County. And even if they do somehow manage to reach all the way here, I can chop them off and make them bear the consequences of doing so. All you need to do right now, is to just follow my arrangements and recover from your injury in ease!”

“Thank you, Uncle Qian!”

“Oh right, has your father ever mentioned me before?”

“No!” Yan Liqiang shook his head.

“Hmph!” The man by the surname Qian snorted coldly, seemingly displeased. “My name is Qian Su. I am your father’s junior. In the past, both of us were disciples to the same master....”

“Junior?” Yan Liqiang gave a doubtful look to Qian Su.

Qian Su seemed to know what Yan Liqiang was thinking. He picked up the wine gourd that he had hanging on his waist and drank a mouthful of wine after he opened it. “What your father and I had been studying together back then was the mastery of the forge, not martial arts. Then... Then I had a fall out with your father over a certain matter and we hadn’t contacted each other over these last few years. I knew your father was in Liuhe Town and he also knew that I was in Huanglong County. But even after we moved on from that whole incident, neither of us could swallow our pride and bring ourselves to look for each other. Which is precisely why I didn’t expect that your father actually came all the way here just to find me last night... ”

“Did you and my father have a fall out over my mother?” Yan Liqiang calmly asked.

Su Qian’s hand stopped in mid-motion just as he was about to take a second swigof wine. He stared blankly at Yan Liqiang with a look of shock on his face. He hadn’t expected Yan Liqiang to be so sharp. “Did your father tell you that?”

“No, it’s only a guess!” Yan Liqiang shook his head.

A fall out between men were mostly due to one of two possible issues – either money or women. This was an experience and life lesson that Yan Liqiang had gained in his previous life. As cliche as it might sound, it was the truth. Judging from the conflicted expression written all over this man’s face the moment that they’d met, and what he’d heard of his relationship with Yan Dechang along with what Yan Liqiang knew about the personality of his own father, he theorized that the only thing that could possibly cause a fall out between them was love-related issues.

Qian Su took another swig of wine. As a look of perpetual desolation appeared on his unkempt, bearded face. “Your mother was the daughter of our master. Both your father and I adored her, yet the one that your mother liked was your father...”

“Uncle Qian, my mother is no longer around. And both you and my father are people who value their friendships. Just let go of the past...” Yan Liqiang sighed.

“Hehe, you are right. The past is the past and to be honest, I am very glad that your father could bring himself to look for me!” Qian Su let out a long sigh. He took another glance at Yan Liqiang and suddenly laughed. “Your father said that you have never gone on a journey before and have only been practicing martial arts every day. He also told me that you are quite the introverted and simple-minded person, and that you’re not good at socializing with others due to your lack of communication skills. He even asked me to take better care of you. I think your father might have gotten the wrong idea about you instead...”

What else could Yan Liqiang say? He could only widen his pupils as far as he possibly could and stare at this man in front of him with his most pure and innocent eyes. The expression on his face was similar to those 2D-like teenage girls who took selfies while wearing circle lenses.

Qian Su almost choked on his next mouthful of wine, seeing Yan Liqiang’s facial expression, going into a violent coughing fit in the carriage.

...

When Yan Liqiang arrived at the Huanglong County, Old Master Hong of the Hong Clan, Hong Tao’s grandfather, frowned slightly whilst he listened to the report from one of his men in the backyard of the Hong Clan’s great manor in Liuhe Town.

Hong Clan’s Old Master, Hong Chengshou was a stout man around sixty years old. He was dressed in a long, gorgeous indigo satin gown and his hair was neatly combed in place. He sat on an imperial tutor chair with a few metal balls in his hands. The smile on Old Master Hong’s face gradually vanished, replaced by an increasingly harsh look in his eyes as he listened to the his steward’s report.

“You’re saying that Butcher Liu saw the father-son duo of Yan Clan making their way to the county town and then Yan Dechang came back alone without Yan Liqiang?

“That’s right!” The steward nodded his head at the Old Master.”At first, I thought that Yan Dechang was sending his son to the medical hall to tend to his injuries, but Yan Liqiang was nowhere in sight when I sent someone to check the medical halls!”

“Does anyone know just where exactly is Yan Liqiang?”

“No one seems know where Yan Liqiang is at the moment.” The steward answered in a soft voice. He then seemed to have recalled something. “Oh yes, I ran into that father and son pair from the Yan Clan on my way back last night. They were of course, refusing to yield as usual. However, that Yan Liqiang seemed to be acting a little different than before, he didn’t seem to be the same dim-witted brat as he’d been previously....” Steward Hong recounted the meeting with Yan Liqiang last night to Old Master Hong. He even repeated the precise words that he’d heard Yan Liqiang say and repeated those words to Old Master Hong without leaving out a single thing.

As Old Master Hong listened to the steward repeat Yan Liqiang’s exact words, he narrowed his eyes and momentarily stopped rotating the metal balls that he had within his hands for two seconds before he resumed again. “Yan Liqiang’s stupidity may have been a charade that his father made him put up so that we wouldn’t notice him. But since this father and son pair of the Yan Clan had seen the Hong Clan make a move on him during the Martial Arts Preliminary Exam, they figured that there was no reason to continue in such a manner...” Speaking up to this point, Old Master Hong sneered coldly. “But at this point of time, this is no longer up to them to decide. Go and find someone to ask around for Yan Liqiang’s whereabouts. Even if our Hong Clan hasn’t had a Martial Warrior for three generations, this Liuhe Town is still the Hong Clan’s territory. We cannot allow the son of a mere blacksmith to overturn this place...”

“Roger!”

As the steward left the study room, another person came out of a secret door in the study room.

That person had a slim figure with a pair of unattractive triangular-shaped eyes on his wretched face. There was also a black mole of about the size of a bean on his left cheek and a sinister aura. He laughed sinisterly, “Old Master Hong, didn’t I tell you that it was best to commit the deed a few days prior? As long as I can sneak into their house, I would have been able to break his spine with just a single slap and then he’d be crippled for the rest of his life, doomed to spend his remaining days in a wheelchair. He wouldn’t be training inmartial arts and things wouldn’t be this troublesome as they are right now.”

“If we did try to make a move on Yan Liqiang a few days before the martial arts preliminaries then the mark would have been too noticeable. It would be bad if it attracted unwanted attention and criticism. As long as Tao’er defeated Yan Liqiang on the arena and proved the strength of Hong Clan, no one would suspect the Hong Clan even if anything were to happen to the blacksmith’s son. I was planning to have you make a move on him over these two days, but I hadn’t expected that this father and son duo from the Yan Clan would be this vigilant...” Old Master Hong sighed and shook his head.

“I can’t be of any assistance in finding the person and since Old Master Hong didn’t hire me to find someone anyway, you only need to tell me where he is. Once I’m done, I’ll leave the Pingxi Prefecture. But I’ll have to charge extra for the few day’s worth of hold up in the Hong Residence.......” That man chuckled while licking his lips as a greedy look flashed across his eyes.

“Rest assured, we of the Hong Clan can still afford to pay this small amount of money....”

“That’s good then!”

The main road of the Huanglong County was built in a flat fashion, thus it wasn’t a bumpy ride even after the horse carriage had briskly galloped for over twenty minutes. From the wharf by the river, it followed the outskirts of the county in a semicircle, before eventually arriving at the Weaponsmiths Quarter of Huanglong County.

On the way to the Weaponsmiths Quarter, Qian Su did not belittle Yan Liqiang by treating him as an ignorant kid. Instead, he had solemnly introduced Yan Liqiang to the current state of affairs of the Huanglong Weaponsmiths Quarter which he currently resided in, so that he would get to know what to expect.

To explain using simple and understandable terms, the Huanglong Weaponsmiths Quarter was a logistics and armaments division. It was a standard military unit operating under the Military Governor’s Office, with the one at Pingxi Prefecture being the highest ranking military unit there was. Within Pingxi Prefecture, there were still quite a number of units similar to the Huanglong Weaponsmiths Quarter. While some of their individual duties overlapped and some didn’t, the main responsibility of the Huanglong Weaponsmiths Quarter was to forge and repair military equipment. Qian Su was a genuine Feiyang Commandant, and the Quarter Master–a title specific to his official position in his line of duty. If explained in Earth’s perspective, the title was a form of rank such as Military Sergeant, Company Commander, or similar. Within Huanglong Weaponsmiths Quarter, Qian Su was the head and possessed absolute authority. As for the title of Feiyang Commandant, it was a military rank equivalent to Second Lieutenant, First Lieutenant, Captain, Lieutenant Commander, or any other sort of similar ranks back on Earth.

Even the County Magistrate of Huanglong County had no authority over Qian Su as he only heeded the orders of the Military Governor’s Office. The Military Governor’s Office had also stationed another barracks at Huanglong County, but this one only consisted of about a bit more than 2000 men. Even the Barrack General of the entire division only had the military rank of a Yingyang Commandant, which was a class higher than Qian Su’s. Even though that was the case, the two of them belonged to different systems under the Military Governor’s Office. So, not only did the Barrack General have no authority over Qian Su, he even required a lot of help and support from Qian Su so they maintained good relations with each other. Thus, all parties would show Qian Su some sort of respect, so he was living a comfortable life in Huanglong County. As for those with the ability of discerning judgements, they would all know that this Uncle Qian was a frequent visitor to all the restaurants and pleasure quarters in Huanglong County.

After having listened to Qian Su’s introduction of these affairs, Yan Liqiang finally realized why Yan Dechang would send him to Huanglong County to avoid trouble. Since he was being protected by Qian Su in Huanglong County, there wouldn’t be much for him to worry about.

The Weaponsmiths Quarter was located at the base of a small mountain within Huanglong County. There was a path on the main road which directly led to the gate of the Weaponsmiths Quarter. Just by judging from the exterior, one could see that the Weaponsmiths Quarter was much larger than the martial arts academy in Qinghe County. Standing from the outside, one could see the numerous courtyards within the Weaponsmiths Quarter; situated right behind the courtyards was a hillside, enveloped by a lush green forest.

The landscape here was pretty decent.

“Catch!” Upon exiting the cart, Qian Su immediately took out a silver coin, tossing it at the cart driver.

“Uncle Qian, how could this humble one accept money from you? And this much too! You’ve already given me face by riding in my cart. And as for the money, you should just keep it. Please keep it...” The cart driver subconsciously caught the silver coin Qian Su that had thrown, before frantically waving his hands, signalling that he wanted to return the money.

“Nonsense! If you don’t earn money from driving carts then won’t your family be living on air with you? Am I the sort of person who doesn’t pay for my ride?!” berated Qian Su as he momentarily laughed while also glaring at the cart driver. “Don’t waste your time here. When you go back, head to Joyous Cloud Inn to send a message for me. Give the Joyous Cloud Inn’s Boss Song my request and tell him to prepare four whole roast lambs, twenty Sichuan pepper chickens and ten pots of Cloudy White Wine for me! Tonight our brothers of the Weaponsmiths Quarter are going to be having a special sumptuous meal!”

“Alright! Alright! Uncle Qian, you can put your mind at ease. I will definitely send word!”

“Then hurry up and go. If the special feast for our brothers of the Weaponsmiths Quarter ends up being delayed, you’d do your best to be on the lookout for my subordinates, as they are the ones who are going to devour you alive...”

The cart driver took the money and left with a beaming smile on his face, driving his cart away to deliver news from Qian Su.

Immediately after, Qian Su walked in the direction of the Weaponsmiths Quarter’s entrance with Yan Liqiang in tow.

The entrance of the Weaponsmiths Quarter truly gave off an impression of being an important military location. Outside of the quarter was the main gate and on that gate was a iron plaque with the words ‘Weaponsmiths Quarter’ embossed in gold on a black surface. There were two lines of spear-wielding soldiers that were positioned on either sides of the main gate, emitting an awe-inspiring aura.

Upon seeing Qian Su approaching the site with Yan Liqiang by his side, the spear-wielding soldiers instantly straightened their bodies. A military officer of around thirty years of age ran out from a small hut to the side of the main gate. He saluted Qian Su, “I’ve come to greet Quarter Master!”

“This is my nephew with the surname of Yan. He’s bored at home these few days, so he wanted to come visit our Weaponsmiths Quarter and spend a couple of days to improve his own knowledge and experience. Whenever he comes and goes from the Weaponsmiths Quarter, make sure our brothers keep alert. Do not ever make the mistake of not recognizing him as one of our own and make a fool out of yourselves!” said Qian Su offhandedly.

“Quarter Master, you can put your mind at ease!” The military officer seriously sized up Yan Liqiang from top to bottom, as if he wanted to memorize every inch of Yan Liqiang’s being. Then, he gave a vigorous nod. The surrounding soldiers who had overheard their conversation also took a serious glance at Yan Liqiang to remember what he looked like.

“Today we will have a special feast to welcome my nephew. Our brothers can let go and drink to their hearts’ content. Please arrange the same treatment for the brothers who’re going to take the night shift. The usual rules apply–brothers who’re going to take the night shift will get an extra pot of wine tomorrow...”

Once they heard this, the military officer as well as each and every one of the surrounding soldiers’ eyes lit up, beaming with happiness.

Qian Su then proceeded to lead Yan Liqiang into the quarter after he was done talking to the soldiers stationed at the entrance of the Weaponsmiths Quarter. They weren’t even able to walk too far before Qian Su grabbed a chieftain standing to the side, who he had caught sight of earlier on. Qian Su pointed at the courtyard with a smoking chimney in the distance and sternly said, “Go and ask Niu Daluan whether a craftsman like him is complaining that the bonus given to him last month was too much or whether he needs a good spanking instead? The fire inside of the furnace isn’t even burning hot enough to reach the required temperature, yet he’s already over there hammering away. Just how much coal is he going to waste in two hours? Is it because the bellows are damaged and he still hasn’t fixed them yet? I won’t let him off easy if the weapons that we’ve forged breaks easily in the battlefield. Tell him to remelt and reforge all the things made today in the Ironware Factory. The extra expenses for coal will be deducted from his salary. If he seriously wants a good spanking, tell him to come find me. Let’s just see if I’ll flay him alive...”

The small chieftain nodded his head, wiping away the cold sweat that had appeared on his forehead. The moment Qian Su finished speaking, the chieftain hurriedly made a beeline towards the Ironware Factory.

Others might not have understood what Qian Su was saying but Yan Liqiang had understood clearly. It was because Yan Liqiang had a blacksmith for a father. Experienced blacksmiths only needed to look at the color of the smoke emitting from a chimney to determine the current state of the furnace as well as the temperature of the flames. Those who were more advanced, were easily able to determine how brittle or soft the iron was, just by listening to the sound of tempering during the forging process.

Within the Weaponsmiths Quarter, Qian Su was akin to a tiger wandering around its territory. Everywhere he went, it was evident that he was highly respected. Seeing such a scene also made Yan Liqiang secretly admire him from deep within.

Each and every single one of these courtyards were manufacturing different types of items or were carrying out different processes. Yan Liqiang realized that great spears were the primary weapon being manufactured within the Weaponsmiths Quarter, which was exactly the kind of weapon he had been training with up until now. However, they were also forging all kinds of weapons, and various defensive equipment.

Yan Liqiang couldn’t help his hands from itching when he saw the many poles of great spears forged from ashwood. But thinking about how his weakened body hadn’t completely healed yet, he could only afford to look on for now.

Qian Su finally brought him over to a courtyard, situated next to the blanket of forest behind the Weaponsmiths Quarter.

Within that courtyard, there was an elm tree and under the elm tree was an old well. A pond could also be seen within the vicinity as well. Divided into multiple layers, a wooden canopy was set up in a place next to the pond near the house, it bore some resemblance to the drawers used to keep medicine in a pharmacy. Beneath the wooden canopy, there were bundles of ashwood which were left to dry in the shade. There were two rooms located at the bottom of the building. The door to the rooms were open and inside the rooms were also filled with bundles and bundles of ashwood, each roughly the size of a duck’s egg. The ashwood were so abundant here, so much so that they could be even be found below the eaves. Between the rooms, there was a flight of stairs which directly led to the loft above.

Qian Su handed over two keys to Yan Liqiang and said, “For the coming days, you’ll stay in this courtyard and sleep upstairs. I have already requested someone to prepare your room.”

After taking the pair of keys, Yan Liqiang once again surveyed his surroundings. “I’m the only one staying in such a big place?”

“Yes. This is where we stack up the spear poles and you will be the sole person staying here at this time. The ashwood you see here are all spear poles and they are required to be dried naturally before we can proceed to the next step in smithing. There’s three more months before this batch of ashwood can be used. During this time, nobody’ll come here to bother you so you can stay here at ease. The soldiers of the Weaponsmiths Quarter are staying in a row of barracks not too far from here. You should’ve already seen it just now on your way here. I live in another courtyard not far from here as well. If there’s any trouble here, just yell and everyone can hear you!”

Yan Liqiang nodded his head in satisfaction. “Okay! Thank you, Uncle Qian!”

“It’s alright if you stay here so long as you don’t use any fires within the premises. We cannot allow any fires to be seen here. Everyday I will request for someone to send your meals over. You won’t need to worry about your three daily meals and changes of clothes, there’ll be someone to do that for you. This entire mountain area is the Weaponsmiths Quarter’s territory. It’s an important military location and the people of Huanglong County know of this, and outsiders wouldn’t usually dare to enter this area. If you’re bored, you can take a casual stroll around the Weaponsmiths Quarter. You can go whenever you want, however, if you’re leaving the quarter, you need to inform me first!”

“Alright! I’ll keep that in mind!”

“I’ve heard from your father that you’ve been hit by the Iron Palm skill. So let me take a look at the medicines you’ve been taking!”

Yan Liqiang unwrapped the baggage that he’d been carrying on his back this whole time and took out two bottles of medicine from it, handing them over to Qian Su.

Upon receiving them, Qian Su unscrewed the bottle caps to take a couple of whiffs. He then shook his head before handing back the bottles to Yan Liqiang. “This medicine must have been given by the county’s medical hall. It’s just average. It’s not that good, but not that bad either. Wait until nighttime, I will send over two bottles of good medicine. It will definitely make your wounds heal faster. Go and get some rest in your room. I’ll get someone to fetch you when it’s time for dinner, and get you acquainted with the rest of the men here...”

Yan Liqiang nodded his head. After Qian Su was done explaining, he left.

As he looked across the courtyard that temporarily belonged to him, Yan Liqiang was feeling very satisfied. He glanced at the two keys in his hand before climbing up the stairs, arriving at his loft on the second floor.

The room was enormous, around thirty-four square meters. He cleaned and tidied every bit of the room. A set of military blankets was spread out atop the wooden bed. Apart from this, there was also a table and a closet.

Yan Liqiang put down the load on his back in the room. Only after he had settled in, did he take notice of the light yellow powder on the floor. It was scattered into various corners of the room but not only that, his nose had also caught a whiff of an odd odor...

He crouched down at one of the corners of the room, pinched up some powder with two fingers from the floor and took a sniff. He guessed that this yellow powder was most likely... sulfur...

This was being used as an insect repellent.

While Yan Liqiang was staring at the sulfur in his hands, a sudden realization dawned on him as he thought of something...

More than two hundred smiths of various specializations were currently staying inside the Weaponsmiths Quarter. There was also a platoon of more than fifty men stationed there to protect it. Lastly, more than twenty maidservants serving in the quarter lived there as well. Taking everyone into account, the total number of people within the quarters did not exceed three hundred. And Qian Su was the head of everyone there.

For tonight’s special sumptuous feast, the Quartermaster had requested that Boss Song from the Joyous Cloud Inn deliver four roasted lambs as well as twenty Sichuan pepper chickens. The maidservants also prepared many side dishes in the Weaponsmiths Quarter’s kitchen. When it was time for dinner, almost all the people of the Weaponsmiths Quarter appeared in high spirits in the large compound of the kitchen where they usually ate.

There was a canopy in the large courtyard and under it was a lengthy table. A large brazier was then taken out and a whole roast lamb was mounted over it on a spit rack. One after another, the Sichuan pepper chickens were served on plates after being sliced up, followed by pots full of Cloudy White Wine being broken open. In the blink of an eye, the aroma of the meat wafted all over the courtyard and the smell of the wine assailed their nostrils. The entire atmosphere was lively beyond measure.

It was because of this kind of atmosphere that Qian Su had brought Yan Liqiang here to announce that Yan Liqiang was his nephew and to get him acquainted with everyone. The sumptuous feast that they were having today was all a reception held in honor of his nephew, Yan Liqiang.

Upon taking in what Qian Su said, everyone present in the Weaponsmiths Quarter was grinning from ear to ear as they glanced towards Yan Liqiang.

In the middle of this lively meal, Yan Liqiang stood up to actively toast the Weaponsmiths Quarter’s chieftains under Qian Su, addressing them as uncles and big brothers. When they saw that Yan Liqiang was such a well-mannered and thoughtful child, each and every one of them felt their impression of Yan Liqiang improve significantly. They immediately treated Yan Liqiang as one of their brothers within the quarter. Some had quite a bit of wine, and with their faces flushed red, they hammered their chest proclaiming their desire to find a beautiful wife for Yan Liqiang.

Having seen that in just one meal, Yan Liqiang was already getting along with every smith and soldier in the Weaponsmiths Quarter, Qian Su was caught by surprise. It was only in this moment that he realized that Yan Liqiang’s method of treating people and handling affairs might be on par with his. Also, due to the fact that Yan Liqiang was young and innocent, he seemed more sincere and humble when interacting with people, which in turn made it more likely for him to win the favor of others.

By the time Yan Liqiang had returned from making a round to toast everyone, each and every one of the men from the Weaponsmiths Quarter had already begun addressing Yan Liqiang as Young Master Yan.

Qian Su found himself completely relieved upon seeing Yan Liqiang at ease in the limelight. However, he found it puzzling as to how Yan Dechang could have brought up a son like this. Could it be that whatever Yan Dechang had told him before was just to deliberately sound modest or did Yan Dechang not even understand his own son?

...

The flavor of Joyous Cloud Inn’s whole roast lambs and Sichuan pepper chickens was pretty good and could even be described as delicious. Compared to the so-called delicacies he had eaten in his past life that were made from ingredients like leanness-enhancing agents, artificial hormones and chemical additives, the meal he had here was better by at least a hundred fold.

This safe place that his old man had found for him to avoid trouble was really great. There was food, drink and even entertainment. Haha....

Yan Liqiang didn’t even hesitate to let himself go, and ate and drank to his heart’s content. By the time the curtain of night had completely fallen, and the sky was filled with stars, everyone had finally dispersed after enjoying themselves to the fullest. And only then did he leave, satisfied, with Qian Su.

“Burp...” On the way back to the house, Yan Liqiang rubbed his belly in contentment and burped loudly.

“How do you find it here?” Qian Su asked while smiling.

“Naturally, Uncle Qian’s territory is superb!” replied Yan Liqiang emulating the Zhenhuan Style [1].

“Back home, apart from learning martial arts, did you also learn blacksmithing from your father ?”

“Initially, my father didn’t allow me to learn and wanted me to focus only on martial arts training. But while I was training, I would always drop by my father’s workshop to fool around. Sometimes, I would roll up my sleeves and help him out. In recent years, I’d often head directly to the blacksmithery to forge ironware, drawing air using bellows and building up my strength. What my father knows, I basically know as well. The problem is that I’m just not as proficient as him! As a blacksmith’s son, if I don’t even know how to forge ironware, then won’t I be forgetting my roots?”

“Good! Good!” Qian Su nodded his head in satisfaction, considerably touched by his statement. “In this world, although martial arts can help you rise, not everyone has the aptitude for it and can build their foundation successfully. Just like your father and I, when we were young, we wanted to train in martial arts as well. However ultimately, we went down the path of the blacksmith instead. In this world, the absolute majority live out their entire lives as ordinary folk. It was like our encounter with the boatman that saved someone down at the wharf today. Back when he was young, it wasn’t that he didn’t have lofty aspirations or goals, but that fate enjoyed working against him. So for the sake of surviving, he could only make a living on the water, replacing the great spear that he’d once held in his hands with a pole. While you’re recuperating here, if you have spare time, you should visit each of the courtyards here. If you want to learn something, they will never selfishly conceal it and will definitely give everything they can to teach you and help you out. It’s not a bad thing for young lads to learn more skills and increase their own knowledge and experience. Even if you can build up your foundation in the future and walk the path of a true Martial Warrior, broadening your horizon and mind will also be advantageous to your cultivation!”

“Alright! I’ll take this to heart!” nodded Yan Liqiang.

As Qian Su looked at Yan Liqiang, he suddenly thought of a question, “What do you think of my position?”

“Here, Uncle Qian is living a comfortable life no different from a fish in water!”

Qian Su burst into laughter. “Like a fish in water! Comfortable lifestyle! What you said is interesting! Interesting indeed! It’s precisely so. Within the Pingxi Prefecture, every Weaponsmiths Quarter’s Quarter Master is a lucrative position. There are countless numbers of craftsmen working under the Military Governor’s Office, and it’s needless to say that we’re not lacking in blacksmiths who can forge ironware. Do you know how I managed to steadily climb to this position?”

The question that Qian Su was asking now was too deep and seemed to conceal a greater motive. Yan Liqiang didn’t answer him immediately. As he was mulling over it, he cast a glance at Qian Su and noticed that Qian Su was staring right at him. In the moonlight, the gaze of his old man’s Junior Brother was gleaming and somewhat abstruse.

This scene appeared to be more like an elder’s test.

“Don’t play dumb with me...” Qian Su reminded him in all seriousness.

Yan Liqiang smiled in embarrassment. He could only answer truthfully in the end, “How Uncle Qian reached today’s position and remained firmly seated as the Quarter Master, I believe that is because Uncle Qian was able to work hard enough to plough through your set path without losing sight of your goal...”

“Able to work hard enough to plough through my path without losing sight of my goal!” Qian Su repeated Yan Liqiang’s words again, his entire body frozen in shock. Never did he ever imagine that he would hear such serious words with profound knowledge from a fourteen year old. Furthermore, he had said it so implicitly. Naturally, Qian Su knew in his heart the answer to the question he asked. The answer was more or less the same as what Yan Liqiang said, but it wasn’t nearly as incisive as Yan Liqiang’s words. It had vivid form and gave careful consideration to his honor. Yet Yan Liqiang had captured the true essence of the matter in just a short phrase.

Judging by Qian Su’s expression, Yan Liqiang knew he was right. The words he uttered earlier weren’t invented by him. Instead, it was the most profound summary of a life experience he had heard in his past life. Regardless of whether one had gone through the bureaucracy or their career, this phrase was already close to being the truth. Now that it had been said out loud meant that there was no room to nitpick about it anymore.

There were several aspects in this world which was different from his previous life on Earth. However, the hearts of the people as well as their nature wasn’t the least bit different at all.

“Alas...” sighed Qian Su suddenly. “Since you can say something like this, I really have nothing to teach you anymore!”

“No, I still have a lot of areas that I need to learn from Uncle Qian...”

“Haha! Don’t be modest about it! For Yan Dechang to be able to have a son like you, is truly something of an oddity! He should be content in this lifetime...” Qian Su said ruefully. Then, he took out a bottle of medicine, passing it to Yan Liqiang. “During these few days, it should be good enough to apply this medicine on your wounds. It’s getting late. You should head back and rest early!”

...

Yan Liqiang carried the medicine that Qian Su gave him back to the small courtyard. Once the gate of that courtyard closed, the entire place became his own little world.

Apart from him and the large tree within the small courtyard, there was only a sky full of moonlight and stars.

Having just eaten, it was inadvisable to go straight to bed, so Yan Liqiang wandered around the small courtyard to aid his digestion while he admired the resplendent starry sky.

To a reincarnated person, the sight of the resplendent starry sky in this world was quite stunning. It was ten folds better than in any blockbuster movie he had seen in the cinema before. In that short while, he couldn’t get enough of that sight.

Just by lifting his head to gaze at the starry sky, Yan Liqiang had felt that was a form of enjoyment.

After an hour had passed and the night sky had gradually darkened, the air started to feel a little chilly. After letting out a yawn, he was starting to feel sleepy. Yan Liqiang cleaned himself up in the courtyard before heading back to his room in the loft. He applied the medicine, changed into his night clothes and quickly fell into a deep sleep.

The effects of the medicine Qian Su had given him was truly vastly different than the medicine from the medical hall. When the bottle was opened, the surge of an odd but sweet scent assailed the nostrils. The medicine had only just been applied to the wounded area, but Yan Liqiang could instantaneously feel a cooling aura making its way into his skin. The discomfort that the Iron Palm had brought him was reduced by a lot as well.

Speaking of which, Yan Liqiang also hadn’t slept for two days so he already felt sleepy earlier on. His body was feeling more comfortable by the moment, and within a short while, Yan Liqiang soon slipped into his own sweet dreams.

...

In his dreams, a verse suddenly emerged somewhere from the depths of his consciousness. Eventually, the verse distinctly appeared in his thoughts.

‘I was born weak, constantly sick. Before the age of ten, I have not been taking care of my diet and was always plagued by diseases such as pathogenic cold. After the age of ten, I became alcoholic and was diagnosed with a variety of skin diseases. Until the age of nineteen, I was addicted to opium. At the age of thirty, I was plagued by illness for days, too alarmed and afraid to move, trapped between the heat and the cold. I felt restless throughout, feeling both hot and cold every day and night. During the days I’d been suffering from my illness, my body felt like it was on the verge of death...’

Following the appearance of these scripts, more and more lines of script began to surface from the depths of Yan Liqiang’s consciousness. Akin to an animal that had been reawakened after hibernation, they gradually appeared in Yan Liqiang’s mind.

...

‘The teachings instructed orally were knowledge imparted from Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, the Divine Heavenly Kings, the Great Grandmasters of Luohan. Though the techniques were different, each had their own uniqueness and were difficult to fully grasp and absorb. They were simply too complicated to be studied in detail, yet also too simplified if only one was selected to be studied.’

...

‘During the Taihe period under the Xiaoming Emperor’s reign of the Northern Wei Dynasty, the Grandmaster Damo (Bodhidharma) left the Liang Empire, moving to Wei and faced the wall in meditation as he resided in the Shaolin Temple. One day he told his disciples, “Why don’t you tell me what you have understood and what I should observe about your current attainment in learning?” Each disciple then reported to him what it was that they had been cultivating. He said, “A certain disciple has gained my skin while the other, my flesh. Another gained my bones.” Only to Huike, he said, “You have obtained my marrow.” The later generation misinterpreted. They thought this was referring to the depth of the disciples’ Dao, and were unaware that this was in fact true and had not been randomly said by Damo. It wasn’t until nine years later, after he’d succeeded in his achievement and ascended to immortality. He was buried at the foot of Xiong’er Mountain having almost vanished, leaving only one straw sandal behind.’

Afterwards, the stele at the wall where Damo had faced in meditation was destroyed by the storm. While the Shaolin monks were repairing it, they found an iron chest. Although it didn’t have a lock, they weren’t able to open it regardless of what they used. A monk comprehended and explained, “This must be solid wax. We should use fire.” The chest was opened successfully, causing the melted wax to splatter all over. Hence, they obtained two hidden manuscripts. One was the “Muscle Tendon Changing Manual” and the other, the “Marrow Cleansing Manual”. The “Marrow Cleansing Manual” mentioned that a man’s body was affected by carnal desires which would then take shape in a bodily form, contaminated by filth. To continue to desire cultivating the profound truth of Buddha and remove obstruction to obtain thusness, one must first cleanse and purge their five viscera and six bowls, the four limbs and the hundreds of bones within their body. Once one is purely cleansed and is able to see peace clearly, only then can one have truly cultivated and attained the wisdom of Buddha....’

...

‘He had obtained the strong physical body of the vajra, gradually attaining the wisdom of Buddha, allowing him to build up the foundation of tendon strength. The will of this monk was strong and sincere. And since he did not want to fall into worldly affairs, he followed through with the teachings of the holy monk and travelled along the mountains and seas, where his whereabouts became unknown. The guest Xu Hong met him overseas and obtained the sacred truth. He passed on the teachings to the Bearded Warrior and the Bearded Warrior returned it to me.’

...

‘Tang, Duke of Wei, Li Yaoshi....’

...

‘I am a warrior. I cannot read a single word. I am adept in the techniques of the long spear and great sword, and find great joy in riding the horse and drawing the bow. It was when the Central Plain was lost, and the Hui and Qin emperors went up North. The muddy horses crossed the river and many events happened to the south of it. Because I was recruited under Marshal Shao Bao (Yue Fei), and assigned as an assistant commander-in-chief, I often won wars and eventually became a great general. I recalled a time when I was ordered to war by Marshal Yue, the army later returned to the state of E. On the journey back, I suddenly came across a travelling monk, whose appearance was strange and old, akin to a Arhat. He carried a letter in hand and entered the camp. He requested for me to deliver it to Shao Bao. I asked for the reason and the monk said, “Does this general know that Shao Bao has divine powers? I said, “I don’t know but I saw that Shao Bao has the ability to draw a bow of hundred picul.” The monk asked, “Was Shao Bao’s divine strength bestowed by the heavens?” I said, “Yes.” The monk replied, “That’s wrong. I was the one who taught him. Shao Bao used to train under me and was successful in employing his divine strength. I then implored him to follow me to achieve enlightenment together.”’

...

‘Song, Shao Xing 12th year. The great general of E under Marshal Shao Bao (Yue Fei). Hong Yi General Niu Gao, Tang Yin, He jiu Fu.’

...

‘The great meaning of Buddha was that the one who wished to advance and obtain proper results must begin with one of two primary foundations: one is to be pure and empty, while the other one is to shed and change. Those who can be pure and empty, will have no barriers. Those who can shed and change, will be unhindered...’

‘What was being said: for the ones that are pure and empty, it is marrow cleansing and for the ones that shed and change, it is muscle tendon changing...’

‘The Marrow Cleansing spoke of a man’s body who was born from flesh and was affected by the pleasures of the flesh, which caused carnal desires to take form. The five visceras and six bowls, the limbs and the bones were tainted by filth and must be cleansed and purged thoroughly until not a single impurity was left behind. Only then would one be able to transcend through the door of enlightenment. There was no other foundation in entering the Dao apart from this. One who does Marrow Cleansing was cleaning their internals. One who does Muscle Tendon Changing was strengthening the externals. If one was able to achieve inner peace and external strength, then advancing into the holy domain was as easy as turning one’s palm. There’s no need to worry about achieving nothing.’

‘It is said to those who practiced “Muscle Tendon Changing”, that the constitution of a man’s body was formed when they were just fetuses. Some muscles and tendons are loose while some are shrivelled. Some are withered, some are weak, some are cringing, some are strong, some are stretchable, some are sturdy and some are harmonious. There are all different kinds and they all depend on the quality of the fetus. If the muscles and tendons are loose, then one is sick. If the muscle and tendons are shrivelled, then one is thin. If the muscles and tendons are withered, then one is weakened. If the muscles and tendons are weak, then one is sluggish. If the muscles and tendons are cringing, then one is dying. If the muscles and tendons are strong, then one is vigorous. If the muscles and tendons are stretchable, then one will grow. If the muscles and tendons are sturdy, then one is firm. If the muscles and tendons are harmonious, then one is healthy. If one cannot even be pure and empty, and is flowing with impurities, they cannot be strong externally, and has obstructions. How can such a person ever be permitted to enter the Dao? Therefore, to enter the Dao, one must first change their constitution to strengthen the body and the internal, to support the external. Otherwise, the Dao will be difficult to attain. Talking about those who practiced “Muscle Tendon Changing”, the change is said to be profound....’

...

One by one, these writings continuously emerged from within Yan Liqiang’s mind...

After these writings had completely finished appearing, what then emerged from Yan Liqiang’s sea of consciousness, were a series of training diagrams.

Finally, those writings and drawings merged together, turning into a book. The name of the book had large words that were all sparkling in gold, titled “Performing the Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing Internal Cultivation Manual”. Soon after, the book assimilated into Yan Liqiang’s sea of consciousness...

The dark sky right outside was only visible through the window of the loft. It was full of stars as well as the moon. Back in his younger days, this was around the time when Yan Liqiang would get up to train his skills.

His powerful biological clock maintained its existing pattern. Regardless of whether Yan Liqiang had gotten enough sleep or not, it would still wake him up at this time.

Yan Liqiang opened his eyes only to realize that he was still lying on the bed. He couldn’t help but heave a long sigh of relief. Since he was still recovering from his injuries during these few days, he didn’t have to train after waking up in the morning. So after Yan Liqiang opened his eyes, he didn’t get up immediately but instead started reflecting on that strange dream he had last night.

‘The dream last night was very strange.’ Yan Liqiang muttered inwardly.

He had dreamt of all sorts of things ever since he was a child. Preposterous ones, peculiar ones, terrifying ones, lascivious ones and also even boring ones. He recalled one of his childhood dreams, where he dreamt that he became one of the Autobots from the Transformers and could transform his body into a car and raced on the road at lightning speed. When he grew older, he once dreamed that he had become the president of a country... But those dreams in the past were nothing compared to the perplexity of the dream he had today.

In the dream he had last night, he was actually reading a book. He dreamt he was reading the entire night and the book that he’d been reading was the ‘Performing Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing Internal Cultivation Manual’– the very same one that he had bought in his past life from that old man in the street stall.

There was nothing else in that dream. No scenery, no other people, no demons or ghosts either. Just him and him alone, reading through that book attentively from the few prefaces it had all the way to the last training diagram.

Could there be any dream weirder than this?

The even stranger thing was whenever he woke up in the past, the scenes and memories of his dream would be like an old photograph, fading rapidly, heading towards the land of the forgotten. However, when he woke up this time, the book that he had read within his dream became even more vivid, as if it had completely integrated itself into his memories and his brain cells. Yan Liqiang could remember every word and diagram in that book, down to the location of every single punctuation mark. He could even copy out everything in that ‘Performing Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing Internal Cultivation Manual’ from the beginning to the end from memory, including the exact same training diagrams found within the book.

When he discovered that he had a book imprinted in his mind without rhyme or reason, the expression on Yan Liqiang’s face was strangely filled with excitement.

Fortunately, because Yan Liqiang was granted another life, he was highly mentally resilient. Since life could be restarted and he could reincarnate into such a bizarre world, then having a book imprinted in his head was not something he would be too be surprised about.

Yan Liqiang thought about it carefully while lying on the bed and it was then that he realized that the ‘Performing Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing Internal Cultivation Manual’ didn’t appear in his mind without rhyme or reason either. It was more like a recreation of his memory. He recalled that he had glanced through the entire book when he purchased it from the old man at the street stall back then, and then casually skimmed through it again on the road. Based on common sense, it should be impossible for him to remember the contents of that book with how fast he’d been reading the manual then, as this would practically require a photographic memory. However he didn’t know why, when he was reincarnated this time, this ‘Performing Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing Internal Cultivation Manual’ that he had only flipped through twice had tagged along in his mind through the reincarnation process.

Yan Liqiang was clueless as to why this had happened. But it certainly didn’t hinder him from accepting this fact without much hesitation.

He laid on the bed for awhile. Although he wished to continue sleeping for a little while longer, he still gritted his teeth and directly got up before dressing himself and headed downstairs to quickly wash up.

This entire mountain was a territory belonging to the Weaponsmiths Quarter and it wasn’t far from the county town. There weren’t any ferocious beasts within the radius of tens of li. At this moment, the mountain air was as fresh and clean as it could possibly be. He could feel it even while standing in the courtyard.

Yan Liqiang arrived at the entrance of the small courtyard, thinking of opening the door to take a walk in the nearby forested hillside. Getting some fresh air would also be beneficial to his recovery.

The moment his hand came into contact with the door bolt, a thought flashed through his mind like lightning.

He was recalled the preface in the beginning of the ‘Performing Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing Internal Cultivation Manual’ by a Qing Dynasty scholar named Zhou Shuguan.

In the preface, Zhou Shuguan had explained that he was born weak with many illnesses and was constantly sick. Due to his binge eating habits before the age of ten, he suffered from various diseases, such as ‘pathogenic cold’. After the age of ten, even though he was still considered a child, he started drinking and became alcoholic; this led to him having skin conditions such as ‘ulcers and sores’. When he was at the age of nineteen, he started smoking opium and carried on doing so for eleven whole years. By the time he was thirty years old, his body had already completely broken down and he was plagued by various illnesses that basically put him on the verge of death. Soon after that, he sought many physicians and consumed various tonics, but none of them proved effective. While he was waiting for death, he accidentally discovered the ‘Performing Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing Internal Cultivation Manual’ by chance. And with only a single year’s worth of training, his body and mind recovered. Not only that, but he also managed to quit opium and his physique grew even stronger along with his strength...

‘I was born weak, constantly sick. Before the age of ten, I have not been taking care of my diet and was always plagued by diseases such as pathogenic cold. After the age of ten, I became alcoholic and was diagnosed with a variety of skin diseases. Until the age of nineteen, I was addicted to opium. At the age of thirty, I was plagued by illness for days, too alarmed and afraid to move, trapped between the heat and the cold. I felt restless throughout, feeling both hot and cold every day and night. During the days I’d been suffering from my illness, my body felt like it was on the verge of death...’

Before he had reincarnated, Yan Liqiang was quite skeptical when he had first read through this preface, and even felt that it may have been grossly exaggerated. But at that moment, a sudden question crossed his mind. ‘What if this Qing Dynasty scholar by the name of Zhou Shuguan was telling the truth? What if this book could really lead to this kind of result? People of the modern era loved to brag, so people of the ancient era should be a little more honest, right?’

If a debilitated youth from the Qing Dynasty who was lying on his deathbed could rise up and recover his health from the brink of death after being trained in the contents of this book, then his little problem could hardly amount to anything.

The other few prefaces of this book had also talked about the origins of this book. It was a secret technique that had been left by Buddha after it was brought to China by Grandmaster Damo (Bodhidharma), who founded the Chan Wu cultivation branch of Shaolin. Those prefaces mentioned that the people who cultivated with this book were all outstanding and well-known figures within the history of China.

The Bearded Warrior from the Tang Dynasty was like a Sword Immortal from the legends. He wished to compete with Li Shimin over the title of World Hero but soon realized that he was too incompetent, so he escaped overseas. It was there that he conquered a territory, becoming its king, thus finding contentment and lived a free and unfettered life. The Bearded Warrior later passed on this book to Li Jing, the same Li Jing who was known to be an invincible war god of the Tang Dynasty. His true identity was of the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King in ‘Investiture of the Gods’ and ‘Journey to West’, and also husband to the Lady with Red Sleeves (Hong Fu Nu), a legendary sword immortal of the Tang Dynasty.

‘He had obtained the strong physical body of the vajra, gradually attaining the wisdom of Buddha, allowing him to build up the foundation of tendon strength. The will of this monk was strong and sincere. And since he did not want to fall into the worldly affairs, he followed through with the teachings of the holy monk and travelled along the mountains and seas where his whereabouts became unknown. The guest Xu Hong met him overseas and obtained the sacred truth. He passed on the teachings to the Bearded Warrior and the Bearded Warrior returned it to me.’

According to the preface at the beginning of this book that was written by Yue Fei’s subordinate, General Niu Gao, it appeared that the national hero of the Chinese,Yue Fei, had also actually received the teachings of a monk during the Song Dynasty and had cultivated using the Muscle Tendon Changing Manual. Not only that, but he had also passed on the teachings in the Muscle Tendon Changing Manual to Niu Gao. According to Niu Gao’s preface, the courage of Yue Fei was at the apex of the world and he could also draw a powerful bow of a hundred picul. He possessed superhuman strength simply because he had cultivated using this book.

Perhaps the people of the modern area wouldn’t really have an idea on just how powerful a bow of a hundred picul was. However, in ancient times, the bow was especially favored by King Xuan of Qi, Tian Bijiang, as his weapon of choice during the Warring States period. When someone handed him a bow of nine picul, which in actuality was a bow of only three picul, King Xuan of Qi was so elated that he had managed to draw that ‘bow of nine picul’ and believed that he had the courage unstoppable by even ten thousand men. A bow of nine picul was already worth that big of a deal, let alone a bow of a hundred picul.

The words and the people on the few prefaces of the Muscle Tendon Changing Manual rolled around within Yan Liqiang’s heart.

Should he give it a try too...?

This thought suddenly emerged in Yan Liqiang’s mind and it grew to be more and more intense.

Yan Liqiang thought back to the training diagrams in the book and realized that there were certainly not too many intense movements depicted in the training diagrams and the intensity of these exercises were quite moderate, so there was no need to run or jump. It could be done by only moving the limbs and the body while staying at the same spot. Furthermore, the difficulty wasn’t that high either. Since it wouldn’t affect his injuries, he figured that he should give it a try.

There was no harm in trying since he wouldn’t lose anything. He’d just see how the results would turn out first. Besides, he was very free right now and possessed the liberty to treat it as an exercise. If he felt anything strange at all, he could just stop it.

With this intention in mind and his curiosity piqued, Yan Liqiang made his way to that one tree in the courtyard after he having recalled the content of the techniques in the ‘Muscle Tendon Changing Manual’. He then started his cultivation on the twenty seven stances of the Upright Body Diagrams in the ‘Performing Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing Internal Cultivation Manual’.

The First Stance of the Upright Body Technique – the Fist Cupping Upright Stance.

Yan Liqiang quietly followed through with the requirements of this stance within his mind. As he slowly shut his eyes, he brought his heels close together while pointed his toes away from each other. He opened his left hand with his palm faced towards the skies, while he firmly clenched his right hand and placed it in front of his chest right above his Yellow Yard (center of the body) [2]. He straightened his knees and his spine, so that his ears would vertically line up with his shoulders and so that his nose would also be vertically lined up with his chest. He then constricted his gaze to the close confines within the radius of one-foot away from him. He clenched his teeth and stuck out his tongue to the roof of his mouth while exhaling through his nose. He then regulated his breathing and concentrated on his movements. After three breaths’ worth of of time, his entire body started moving gently in a relaxed manner...

Fist Cupping Upright Stance, Presenting the Pestle to Begin Work Stance, Extending Claws and Spreading Wings Stance, Twin Phoenix Facing the Sun Stance, Flying Eagle Spreading Wings Stance, Supporting Tower with Both Hands Stance, Three Peak Standing Stance, Dragon Stretching Right Claw Stance, Dragon Stretching Left Claw Stance, Horizontal Arms Half Squatting Stance, Three Forces Qi Channeling First Stance, Three Forces Qi Channeling Second Stance, Three Forces Qi Channeling Third Stance... Three Forces Qi Channeling Thirteenth Stance, Three Forces Qi Channeling Fourteenth Stance...

At first Yan Liqiang didn’t have any feeling from the training, but when he reached the last few stances of the Three Forces Channeling Qi technique, he gradually felt as if his body was turning into an empty bottle. With his entire body was suddenly feeling empty, he felt as if he had become one with his surroundings. A strange energy wave poured forth into his body through his stance unceasingly, seemingly from the Heavens and the Earth and from all directions. It went all the way up to his brain, all the way down to his tailbone and spread throughout his torso while coursing through the orifices of the blood vessels in his four limbs. Being cleansed by that wave of energy was so indescribably pleasant and comfortable that one could easily lose oneself within this sensation of pure ecstasy....

The three forces of this universe are divided into Human, Earth and Heaven. The fourteen stances of this Three Forces Channeling Qi technique clears the energy channels between human and Heaven and Earth.

This twenty seven stances of the Upright Body Diagrams were indeed very pleasant to practice. This pleasure was something that Yan Liqiang had never experienced before.

Without realizing it, Yan Liqiang had started to practice the twenty seven stances of the Upright Body Diagrams repeatedly.

He was so caught up in the exercise that he easily lost track of time. By the time Yan Liqiang opened his eyes after completing the final stance of the Upright Body Diagrams with the Fist Cupping Upright Stance, the sky was alreading turning bright.

He didn’t think that so much time had passed. That was at least two hours and Yan Liqiang was a little surprised. Had he really lost track of time just because he was so immersed in the techniques and actually repeatedly practiced the Upright Body Diagrams over and over?

The moment he thought of this question, Yan Liqiang felt as if something was going to come out from his stomach. Feeling an inexplicable disgust, he opened his mouth and belched, coughing up a mouthful of thick and black stuff that seemed to be clotted blood.

After coughing up the ‘blood clot’, the area between Yan Liqiang’s chest and abdomen felt extremely relaxed and cleared up. That suffocating sensation that was present seemed to be gone now...

Yan Liqiang was dumbfounded, or perhaps it was best to say that he was in complete shock.

He recalled the physician in the medical hall back in the county town that had diagnosed his injury. It was a blood stasis that was left behind by the impact of the Iron Palm technique on the area located between his chest and abdomen. His body would recover as the blood stasis slowly dissolved.

Feeling an unobstructed sensation between his chest and abdomen, Yan Liqiang expanded his chest and swung his fists a couple of times with all his strength. He discovered that there wasn’t any discomfort at all in the area between his chest and abdomen. The ripping pain that he had felt whenever he tried those movements from last time was no longer present.

Upon taking another look at the puddle of black colored blood that he had coughed up, a thought crossed Yan Liqiang’s mind. Could this blood clot be the one that was left behind when he suffered the blow from Hong Tao’s Iron Palm technique? If he had coughed it out just like that, would this mean that he had actually recovered from his injury?

This was too incredible, just like a dream. He remembered that the physician had told him that his injury would require at least one or two months to heal, so how could it be this fast?

At this moment, the shock in Yan Liqiang’s heart was simply too difficult to be put into words. Regardless of how outrageous everything seemed, the unobstructed feeling in his body and the black colored blood clot that he had coughed up. had already clearly and undoubtedly told Yan Liqiang that everything that had just happened was real.

While Yan Liqiang was still in a daze, a series of knocks were suddenly heard on the door of his courtyard.

‘Dong dong... dong dong dong...’

At this moment, the sounds that traveled to Yan Liqiang’s ears were like drumbeats. Startled, Yan Liqiang subconsciously moved to open the door. After only two steps, he turned and saw the blood clot that he had coughed up on the floor. He hurriedly reversed his steps and dug into the ground with his shoe a few times to get some dirt to completely cover the blood clot.

After he was done with all this, he took a deep breath, doing his best to appear normal. He then proceeded to the entrance of the small courtyard and opened the door.

A round-faced maidservant about forty years old, stood outside of the door, carrying a food box in her hand. Yan Liqiang had seen this maid last night. She was one of the servants in the Weaponsmiths Quarter.

“Young Master Yan, I have brought you breakfast...” A cordial smile appeared on the round face of the maidservant as she handed him the food box. “Young Master Yan, please leave the food box by the door when you have finished. I’ll come back to collect it!”

“Alright, thank you!” Yan Liqiang gave her a slight smile and accepted the food box. “Oh right. There’s no need to deliver anything tomorrow morning.”

As soon as Yan Liqiang had finished speaking, the maidservant face immediately contorted into terrified expression. “Oh, is Young Master Yan not pleased with our food?”

“That’s not it. I’ll take my breakfast with everyone else at the dining hall tomorrow morning so there’s no need for you to especially deliver my meal.”

“But the Quarter Master had ordered that...”

“Don’t worry, I will talk to Uncle Qian!”

“Well... Alright then...”

Although he could stay in the courtyard the entire time while waiting to be served by others, Yan Liqiang didn’t want to be treated this way because he wasn’t a Young Master and wasn’t that pampered to begin with. From his previous life’s experience, this kind of habit was nothing more than ‘isolation’ and that wasn’t something positive. He had come here to Huanglong County to flee from dangers. Thus, it was needless for such pretension here. Although he was under the protection of Qian Su, mingling with everyone in the Weaponsmiths Quarter and following the mass line[1] was the wisest choice.

After the maidservant left, Yan Liqiang took the food box to the stone table under the tree in the courtyard and opened it. A delicious fragrance immediately wafted towards his nose.

There was a generous serving of millet congee with lean meat in a big bowl, a plate of dried tofu, a plate of salted vegetables as well as two chicken eggs in the food box. Yan Liqiang’s tummy immediately growled at the sight of the food.

He wasn’t sure if it had been because of all the training he had just done or if it was the fact that all of these especially clean, unadulterated dishes were made out of authentic, natural ingredients that made them seem delicious. Regardless, he realized that his appetite today was particularly good and that he was able to eat more than usual. In just a short moment, he had wolfed down everything and the food box was polished clean.

Yan Liqiang was initially planning to continue to study and experiment with the ‘Performing Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing Internal Cultivation Manual’ in his mind after he was done with his meal. However, after a second thought, he was only a fourteen year old teenager right now. The nature of teens at this age was supposed to be active rather than staying quiet. If he holed himself up in the courtyard behind closed doors every day, people would think that there was something wrong with him instead.

If he didn’t have that shocking experience from before, perhaps Yan Liqiang wouldn’t really be bothered whether or not he was normal or abnormal in other people’s eyes. But it just so happened that Yan Liqiang had the mentioned experience, so he was adamant about becoming a normal, inconspicuous person in other people’s eyes.

After finishing the rest of his food, Yan Liqiang left the food box by the entrance and exited the courtyard. He made his way directly towards the mountain forest behind the Weaponsmiths Quarter, ready to stroll around the mountain.

That mountain forest mostly consisted of White Ash Trees while pine trees and other trees made up the rest of the forest. The White Ash trees stood perfectly straight in that mountain forest, just like sentinels standing guard. These White Ash trees should not be underestimated. They were actually important military supplies to the Weaponsmiths Quarter because the trunks of these White Ash trees were materials used for manufacturing the poles of long spears and moreover, long spears happened to be one of the most important weapons to the army of this era. This White Ash Forest was a provider for the most important weapon among the Military Governor’s Office in the Pingxi Prefecture. It could also be said that the Huanglong Weaponsmiths Quarter existed solely because of this White Ash Forest.

The White Ash Forest had people that specially cared for it. They trimmed the branches and leaves, protected them against insects and ensured that there were no scars or holes made by pests on the trunk of every White Ash tree. Every White Ash tree here stood straight like a spear and their sturdy trunks all had fine textures.

The air in this mountain forest was very fresh and there was an abundance of spiritual Qi and energy of the mountain. Yan Liqiang leisurely strolled around the forest, while carefully noting the terrain. In about twenty minutes or so, he finally made it to a wide empty land near the mountain summit.

This place wasn’t that huge, it had an area of only thirty or forty square meters. The lush green grass on the ground was like a mattress, with thick trees in the surroundings; behind this was a mountain wall that went all the way up to the summit and a stream by the side. He was right in front of the slope of a hill, the courtyards of the Weaponsmiths Quarter lay just below this hill. From here, Yan Liqiang could easily assess the situation at the foot of the mountain. He was able to clearly see if someone was coming up. However, the same could not be said for the people at the mountain foot or in the distance.

When Yan Liqiang arrived, the sun had just fully risen from the East and the earth’s yang Qi had started increasing. The warm sunlight bathed the White Ash Forest and its surroundings on the mountain. In this clearing, the light interspersed with the shadows while the air was filled with vitality; it was a good place to train.

Ascending the mountain had helped Yan Liqiang digest almost all his food. He exercised his entire body here for awhile and realized that the unpleasant feeling between his chest and abdomen really had vanished without a trace. This boosted his confidence. After he was done with exercising his entire body, he stood properly while taking a few deep breaths. He then shifted his right leg to the 4 o’clock position as he assumed the Left Bow Stance. He faced his right palm to the right and raised it up, towards the front, allowing it to draw an arc to the front of his body. He turned his palms facing upwards, while the same time bending his right elbow. He raised his right palm to the side of his waist while assuming the beginning stance of the Empty Step with Flashing Palm. In an instant, he fully focused his attention.

After taking a few breaths, Yan Liqiang unleashed the Tiger Roaring Consecutive Fist technique.

The Tiger Roaring Consecutive Fist technique was a type of basic fist technique that was widely spread throughout the Great Han Empire. Almost everyone knew it. The popularity of this fist technique was comparable to ‘The Most Dazzling Folk Style’ that was deeply adored by the aunties who performed it in plaza dances in his past life. Yan Liqiang’s father and Zhou Tiezhu both knew this fist technique. Yan Liqiang knew of this technique because Yan Dechang had personally taught it to him. The sequence of movements in this fist technique was short, hence it was very easy to learn and practice. It could also help a novice martial artist set their foundation in fist techniques. At the same time, it also had great effect in stretching the muscles and bones. Though the movements in this fist technique were few, it had stricter requirements on the hands, eyes, body, and footwork. Among the youths in Liuhe Town, at least nine out of every ten people had cultivated this fist technique since young.

That day on the arena, Yan Liqiang had used this Tiger Roaring Consecutive Fist technique in his showdown with Hong Tao as it was the only fist technique he knew.

Yan Liqiang couldn’t be more familiar with the only fist technique that he had cultivated over so many years.

At the beginning, Yan Liqiang’s movements were still a little slow. But slowly, as Yan Liqiang realized that there wasn’t any discomfort in his body when he was practicing his fists, and it had completely returned to normal like before, his movements started growing in strength and speed. One movement followed after another, as they were unleashed in an imposing manner.

By the time he finished practicing the thirty-two forms of Tiger Roaring Consecutive Fist, a thin sheen of sweat had already formed on his forehead. But what was more important was that he could finally confirm that his injuries had indeed been completely healed.

He had only practiced the Upright Body Diagrams of the ‘Performing Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing Internal Cultivation Manual’ for one entire morning to achieve this outcome. He wondered what would happen if he were to persist in his practice of the ‘Performing Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing Internal Cultivation Manual’ several times every day.

If he thought of this, then he should do it!

With that thought on his mind, Yan Liqiang once again started with the First Stance of the Upright Body Technique – the Fist Cupping Upright Stance and began to practice it.

This time, he didn’t repeat after he finished practicing the twenty seven stances of the Upright Body Diagrams. He instead proceeded to cultivate the Sideway Body Diagrams. There were eight stances in the Sideway Body Diagrams, One Hand Raising the Heaven Stance, Unsheathing the Sabre Stance, Drawing Bow Shooting Ball Stance, Straight Shoulder Stance, White Crane Flapping Wings Stance, Presenting the Pestle in Unity Stance, Facing Towards the Sky Stance and finally the Cupping and Returning Stance....

After finishing Sideway Body Diagrams, he continued onto Half Body Diagrams, then Leaning Body Diagrams, followed by Folding Body Diagrams, Twisting Body Diagrams, Falling Body Diagrams, Flipping Body Diagrams, Moving Body Diagrams, Sitting Body Diagrams, Fixed Body Diagram, and lastly Crouching Body Diagrams...

Among these various body diagrams, there were some that had more than twenty stances in the diagrams while there were also some with as little as seven or eight stances. Each and every single stance had their own ingenuity and distinction.

Nearly two hours had passed by the time he had just finished practicing a single round with a total of twelve body diagrams.

During his first round of practice, some of his movements were still somewhat shaky and inconsistent. Even so, Yan Liqiang felt that he was much more energetic after completing one round of practice. An endless stream of vigor seemed to well up from his body...

He practiced it again for another round. After another two hours had passed, Yan Liqiang felt as if his vitality had increased a hundredfold. His body had actually never felt this great before, it felt like there was a cool breeze blowing under his arms.

Yan Liqiang had actually wanted to continue practicing, but then he remembered that it was almost lunchtime back in the Weaponsmiths Quarter. So, to avoid complications from arising, he suppressed his urge to continue training and quickly descended the mountain...

After he had finished his lunch, Yan Liqiang took a walk around every courtyard in the Weaponsmiths Quarter in the afternoon, before returning to the mountain. He started cultivating the various techniques in the ‘Performing Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing Internal Cultivation Manual’ and only descended the mountain in the evening. After he finished dinner, he continued with his practice in his small courtyard.

In just one day, Yan Liqiang’s familiarity with the techniques grew after repeated rounds of cultivation. He had already fully grasped the essentials of the techniques such as movement and breathing...

In the following few days, Yan Liqiang stayed in the Weaponsmiths Quarter and didn’t exhibit any unusual behavior.

He disallowed the maidservant of the Weaponsmiths Quarter from delivering any of his meals again. Just like everyone else in the Weaponsmiths Quarter, he also gathered in the dining hall to dine together. He’d eat whatever the others ate and while he ate, he’d happily chat with the others. After having finished eating, he’d go to whichever courtyard he wanted to watch the different processes of those blacksmiths while they forged and produced various weapons, and he would ask those blacksmiths for guidance. Occasionally, he’d also go to the courtyard where the soldiers lived to watch them train.

Yan Liqiang treated everyone with respect and didn’t flaunt his status as the Quarter Master’s nephew. He addressed everyone as ‘uncle’ or ‘brother’ and treated even the blacksmiths and servants of the Weaponsmiths Quarter with due respect. Due to his friendliness, easy-going nature and respectful treatment of others, Yan Liqiang was able to get along well with everyone in the Weaponsmiths Quarter in just a few days. He fit right in with them and was greeted by smiles wherever he went.

The first two days, Qian Su still kept a close eye on Yan Liqiang, but when he realized that Yan Liqiang was already comfortable enough in the Weaponsmiths Quarter, he stopped monitoring him. Besides, it wasn’t like Yan Liqiang was capable of causing trouble in the Weaponsmiths Quarter so he left him alone. However, Qian Su himself frequently traveled to the county town of Huanglong County. He would often go missing for a day and even stayed out all night from time to time. Whenever that happened, everyone in the Weaponsmiths Quarter knew that Quarter Master Qian had gone out to fool around.

After Yan Liqiang had gotten closer to the people of the Weaponsmiths Quarter in just a few days, no one really paid any further attention to what Yan Liqiang did in the Weaponsmiths Quarter. All of them felt that Yan Liqiang wasn’t just some immature troublemaker and furthermore was Qian Su’s nephew, so naturally, no one really wondered what Yan Liqiang did nor did they meddle in his business. As a result, Yan Liqiang frequently went to the mountains every day and people understood it that as a teenager’s nature so they didn’t really mind. It would be fine as long as Yan Liqiang didn’t set the whole mountain on fire.

But of course, this was all only on the surface. In reality, the life that Yan Liqiang led in the Weaponsmiths Quarter over these few days was actually the polar opposite of how it seemed on the surface. Although he might appear to be very free and idle in the Weaponsmiths Quarter to the rest, in fact, he actually didn’t slack off on his cultivation at all.

The bitter experience of being beaten down from the arena by Hong Tao and the fact that he was forced to flee to Huanglong County from danger was like a taut bowstring within Yan Liqiang’s heart. He didn’t relax at all but instead started cultivating even more diligently than ever.

The official Martial Arts County Trial Examination was only two months away. Despite the fact that he had failed in the preliminary exam, he was still eligible to participate in the official examination due to his past outstanding performance back in Liuhe Town. Even without the threat of the Hong Clan, Yan Liqiang would still strive to move forward for the sake of getting a good ranking in this martial arts examination. That was because this matter didn’t only impact his future as an individual, but also the earnest expectation that his father had for him over more than a decade.

The ‘Performing Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing Internal Cultivation Manual’ had never been a part of the training regimes that Yan Liqiang had followed in the past. But after he realized the formidable power of the techniques that were recorded within, Yan Liqiang treated the ‘Performing Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing Internal Cultivation Manual’ as the main regime in his daily training.

Every day, Yan Liqiang got up before sunrise to cultivate the ‘Performing Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing Internal Cultivation Manual’ in the courtyard. Cultivating a single round of ‘Performing Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing Internal Cultivation Manual’ took about two hours. After having cultivated it for one round and then practicing the Tiger Roaring Consecutive Fist technique for another few rounds, it would be just around breakfast time at the Weaponsmiths Quarter, so he would go to have his breakfast.

After he was done with breakfast, he would stroll around the Weaponsmiths Quarter for a while before ascending the mountain. Then on the mountain, he would continue to cultivate the ‘Performing Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing Internal Cultivation Manual’. This time, he would be able to complete two rounds of ‘Performing Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing Internal Cultivation Manual’ cultivation before lunchtime.

After lunch, he would take the opportunity return to his own loft to nap and read.Until dinner time, he could cultivate ‘Performing Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing Internal Cultivation Manual’ again for another two or three times.

After dinner, he’d hang back a little longer with the people of the Weaponsmiths Quarter before returning to his small courtyard again. Then he’d start focusing on squatting in Horse Stance for the sake of tempering it into the foundation of a Warrior. This would go on all the way until bedtime.

Just like this, Yan Liqiang would spend more than ten hours every day cultivating the ‘Performing Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing Internal Cultivation Manual’ five or six times in the Weaponsmiths Quarter.

He didn’t dare to tell anyone about the secrets of the ‘Performing Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing Internal Cultivation Manual’ because the effects of this secret manual were really too terrifying. As the saying goes: ‘treasuring a jade ring becomes a crime’[1]. Yan Liqiang knew that he wasn’t capable enough to protect this secret and feared that the people around him would be put in danger should this secret ever be exposed.

Yan Liqiang gradually discovered that the growing amount of vigor he had within his body corresponded with the increasing amount of time he’d put forth in cultivating the ‘Performing Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing Internal Cultivation Manual’ in the wake of his daily cultivation. It was as if he had opened a treasure vault in his body, that boundless energy gushed forth like an underground geyser as it poured forth from within his body in a steady flow.

On the third day after he had officially started practicing this technique, Yan Liqiang realized that for the first time he was no longer drowsy after waking up in the morning to practice.

Although waking up to train his martial arts around 5 o’clock at dawn every day had already become a habit to Yan Liqiang, however, he was still a fourteen-year-old youth. He was honestly still quite sleepy when he woke up at this hour every morning ever since he started training martial arts. That warm blanket was still very attractive to him and waking up at this hour every day really wasn’t something to be joyful about. He was only able to persevere at getting up at this hour every day by relying on his own willpower and the habit he had acquired from being supervised by his father all this time; he had to clench his teeth to force himself up and then get into an energetic state by rapidly washing up and training.

But this time when Yan Liqiang’s biological clock woke him up on the third day of his new training regime, he discovered that his body no longer felt drowsy. Instead, his drowsiness had been replaced by an overflowing energy in his body and a clear mind. That warm blanket had suddenly lost its attractiveness to him within an instant.

After just a few days, Yan Liqiang subsequently discovered a series of changes that had started to occur within his body.

First, the quality of his sleep had become better. He was able to fall asleep faster, felt extremely comfortable and no longer dreamed while he slept.

Next, Yan Liqiang discovered that the amount of food that he needed to consume was gradually increasing. His appetite had increased. Everything he ate tasted especially delectable. Taking his lunch and dinner as examples, if he previously ate three bowls of rice per meal, then the amount of his intake had increased by thirty percent in just a few days into four bowls. Not only that, it was still showing signs of increasing...

Lastly, which was also the most obvious transformation, Yan Liqiang discovered that the physical quality of his body was rapidly enhancing in various aspects, especially the energy in his entire body. This transformation was most evident when he was practicing his fist techniques and the Horse Stance, especially the latter.

Prior to sustaining his injury, Yan Liqiang could last more than an hour when he assumed the Horse Stance before his body would start to tremble, despite having trained the Horse Stance for all these years. But from the fourth day after he started practicing the ‘Performing Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing Internal Cultivation Manual’, Yan Liqiang realized that the amount of time that he could hold his Horse Stance had started to increase. At the beginning, it was still not that obvious. But after more two days had passed, Yan Liqiang realized that it was gradually getting easier every time he assumed the Horse Stance, so the amount of time that he could hold it for had also obviously become longer. It increased day by day. This was originally the most difficult fundamentals, yet it had gradually become much easier. In only the span of a few days, the amount of time he could hold his Horse Stance had increased from more than one hour to two. It had doubled within just a short time...

Unknowingly, half a month had already passed since Yan Liqiang had first come to the Weaponsmiths Quarter.

During this period of time, Yan Liqiang immersed himself in diligent training every single day. In accordance with the ‘Performing Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing Internal Cultivation Manual’, he had reached the point where he had memorized its contents by heart; this allowed his skills to slowly mature.

Today, from the moment he woke up, Yan Liqiang had been getting a feeling that his body was rapidly changing while he was training. This was especially noticeable when he was practicing the Triple Burner Attaining Virtue Fourteenth Stance, one of the forms in the Sitting Body Diagrams. Yan Liqiang could clearly feel that a hole of sorts seemed to have opened on top of his head, feeling like he was in a trance, he also sensed that numerous amounts of bright, multicolored energy, as well as spiritual Qi, present among the Heavens and Earth, all of which were surging towards him, entering his body from the top of his head. The five viscera and six bowels within his body behaved like a piece of dry sponge meeting water for the first time as they madly absorbed and devoured the energy and spiritual Qi that entered into his body. While his own heart, spleen, liver, lungs, and kidney were absorbing those energies, he was also overwhelmed with euphoria to the point where he wanted nothing more than to burst out loudly into song.

The Fourteenth Stance of the Sitting Body Diagrams’ Triple Burner Attaining Virtue was the same as the Fourteen Stance of the Upright Body Diagrams’ Three Forces Qi Channeling and also the Half Body Diagrams’ Folding Joints on Horse’s Fourteenth Stance. The only difference was that training of the Fourteenth Stance of the Upright Body Diagrams was done while standing, whereas the Fourteenth Stance of the Half Body Diagrams was practiced in a half-squatting posture similar to the Horse Stance, while training of the Fourteenth Stance of the Sitting Body Diagrams was done while sitting down in a cross-legged position. According to the given explanation in the ‘Performing Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing Internal Cultivation Manual’, ‘...the first part of the process was done in attempt to circulate the Qi, while the second part is done to circulate the Qi to a focal point and the last step was done to circulate the Qi towards its original point. The exercise is divided into three parts and it should be accomplished in the order stated above from start to finish. To those who have trained to this extent, they would be able to manipulate their Qi up and down to do as they see fit, allowing them to transcend into the realm of wonders.’

Once one had practiced the ‘Performing Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing Internal Cultivation Manual’ to this degree, only then would one truly be considered to have “transcended into the realm of wonders.”

In the morning, after having completed a single round of training, Yan Liqiang felt his entire body become light and agile, as though he was floating on air. In particular, his kidneys, that is to say, his waist area, were feeling like they were being enclosed with two bags of warm water. It was a feeling of extreme coziness as well as a sense of comfort which he found himself unable to put into words.

After having his fill of breakfast and lunch, Yan Liqiang continued to cultivate. Every time he did so, his inner organs would absorb and devour a large amount of bright and multicolored energy and spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth. For every time he cultivated, he would receive corresponding gains. Cultivating for five rounds every day before dinnertime, Yan Liqiang felt like the entirety of his body seemed to have immersed itself in a completely different state of being. He could feel that his body was bursting with energy while his sight and hearing perception had been raised to a more advanced level. His eyesight was becoming keener, while his hearing had also been elevated and now could notice even the most minute amounts of noise. After he finished his afternoon training on the mountain, Yan Liqiang could sense that the scenery in his surroundings had unexpectedly turned more vivid and lively.

During this dinnertime, Yan Liqiang once again crossed paths with Qian Su. During the entirety of yesterday and the day before that, Qian Su couldn’t be found within the Weaponsmiths Quarter, and nobody knew just where he had gone to get drunk and release his amorous desires.

After they’d both finished their respective dinners, Qian Su’s call halted Yan Liqiang right in his tracks, before bringing him back to his residential courtyard.

“Liqiang, you’re looking much better these days. Is the medicine I gave you still useful?” Upon seeing Yan Liqiang’s complexion, Qian Su nodded in satisfaction. After having stayed in the Weaponsmiths Quarter for half a month, Yan Liqiang’s complexion was growing better by the day. Upon looking at his now much healthier complexion, Qian Su also felt his heart was put at ease.

“Thank you very much, Uncle Qian. The medicine you gave me is really useful. I’ve already felt my injuries getting much better since a few days ago!” Yan Liqiang laughed. Had it not been for the medicine that Qian Su gave him, he really would’ve at a loss to explain his miraculous healing speed. “After all, Hong Tao’s Iron Palm was still in the beginning stages of training when he hit me with it, so the power wasn’t that great. I’ve recognized that the abundant spiritual Qi in the mountains is nourishing for the body, so for these past few days, I’ve been running up and down the mountains several times a day. Whenever I’m free, I either train my fists or take a nap so that my body can grow to feel more comfortable and relaxed. When I was running up the mountain two days ago, I even coughed up some blood clots. After that, the uncomfortable feeling in my chest area is almost all gone. During these few days, I feel like my own body almost back to normal and in a good enough condition to practice the Horse Stance again, so I did just that...”

“Good!! That’s great! That’s great...” After hearing what Yan Liqiang had said, the expression on Qian Su’s face became nothing but smiles. “Yesterday, your father requested someone to send news over. He told us that everything is fine and that you don’t have to worry about home. You just need to stay here to recuperate in peace. I’m sure that your father would be ecstatic if he knew just how fast your body has been healing!”

“I still have Uncle Qiang to thank for this!”

“How is any of this my effort? It’s because you’re still so young, brimming with so much vigor that you’re recovering so fast. Oh, speaking of which, apart from the basics in spear arts, are you practicing any other form of martial arts?”

Yan Liqiang scratched his head. “Apart from spear arts, I’m also practicing the basic fist technique, Tiger Roaring Consecutive Fist, to build up my foundation. As for the other forms of martial arts, I’m not practicing any!”

“Hmm, you’re going about this in the right way. Before setting your foundation, it’s inadvisable to spend too much time on training external martial arts. However, Tiger Roaring Consecutive Fist is still popular to the point where practically everyone knows how to use it. So, unless if you have a unique insight that will help you practice this fist technique, or you are able to train this fist technique to perfection, you shouldn’t be relying on it to win against an enemy. Otherwise in your current state without a foundation, trying to use this fist technique to win especially when facing an adversary such as Hong Tao, would be near impossible. So, apart from this fist technique, it’s best for you if you were to learn another martial art to increase your self-defense. Only then would you have a higher chance of victory when facing the enemy...” As Qian Su spoke on, he took out a book from his bosom and passed it to Yan Liqiang. “This was a secret footwork manual I came across back in my younger days. When compared to other valuable secret manuals, you’ll find that this manual isn’t really that powerful. The highest you can cultivate until is only a realm of the sixth layer, but despite so, this manual is still rarely seen. Not only that but if you can train yourself well enough in this art, then you can use it to either attack or defend in battle, while also maintaining the ability to advance or retreat at will. You can also use it in conjunction with other martial arts. Even if you were to build your foundation, you can still train in it and put it to good use when in a confrontation with your enemy!”

The moment when he heard that there was a realm of six layers within the secret manual in Qian Su’s hand was when Yan Liqiang’s mind flooded with excitement. Within this world, one has to know that the simplest and most direct method in grading the heights of martial arts and techniques was by observing the number of layers within a realm that a martial art could possess while using said martial arts or techniques. The higher the number of layers one could possess within a realm for the martial arts and techniques would imply that they could attain higher levels, thus becoming more formidable. Naturally, it would be more valuable as well. The layers of the realm for these techniques were of course not determined by people. Instead, every layer would be divided by the different forms of techniques’ Dharmic projections and phenomena.

For instance, the Tiger Roaring Consecutive Fist he’d been practicing would serve as a good example. The pinnacle of this ever-so-popular martial art was only up to a realm of the fifth layer. As for the secret manual that Qian Su had given him, although the highest limit for it was only at a realm of the sixth layer, the fact that it was only one layer higher than the Tiger Roaring Consecutive Fist didn’t make it look much more valuable. But in reality, more than ninety percent of the commoners in this world would perhaps never be presented with the chance in their lifetime to see a manual containing a realm of the sixth layer. Even the Iron Palm that Hong Tao was cultivating peaked at a realm of the sixth layer. However, the difference between the two was that secret manuals that touched upon the art of footwork and body stances of martial arts were more valuable. The value of this secret footwork manual containing the realm of the sixth layer was more than sufficient enough to be equal or even rival other techniques of the seventh layer realm.

Within the world of cultivation, there was another saying that says that a ship rises with the tides. If a person can cultivate a low-level secret manual to its highest realm, then when that same person begins to cultivate a more advanced secret manual of similar type in the future, it would be easier for them to master it. Furthermore, they would also be able to advance to a higher layer at a faster rate, therefore every fundamental technique was significant. For example, if Yan Liqiang could train the Tiger Roaring Consecutive Fist to it’s highest fifth layer and if he happened to be able to gain access to a fist technique manual of the highest tenth layer, then there was a very distinct possibility that he would be able to break through those previous layers in the manual in a shorter than normal time frame.

Being prompted by his now highly piqued curiosity, Yan Liqiang respectfully accepted the secret manual given to him by Qian Su. Holding it before him, he could see that there were only words that read ‘Nine Palace Wind Shadow Steps’ on the manual’s green cover.

The secret manual was very thin with only a dozen or so pages. But while he was holding it, Yan Liqiang could feel the secret manual emanating an immense amount of pressure, the light-looking manual had instead felt that it had a weight of a thousand jin. It felt very heavy.

“Uncle Qian, may I know what layer have you cultivated the ‘Nine Palace Wind Shadow Steps’ until?”

Yan Liqiang’s question made Qian Su’s aged face slightly flush. “Cough, cough! Your Uncle Qian, me, don’t even have the foundation and furthermore, I never even passed the Horse Stance level. My legs are weak, thus, I only barely managed to cultivate the ‘Nine Palace Wind Shadow Steps’ up to the second layer with great trouble, and no more after that as it was too difficult for me to continue. To prevent your father from troubling me in the future, you can keep this footwork manual with you. But, wait until you pass the Horse Stance before cultivating...”

“I really don’t know how to repay Uncle Qian for giving me this!”

Qian Su’s gaze fell on Yan Liqiang’s face before suddenly sighing, “For you to live a long and meaningful life, that’s the greatest gift you can give to me!”

...

Upon leaving Qian Su’s courtyard, Yan Liqiang tucked the ‘Nine Palace Wind Shadow Steps’ secret manual into his clothes and went back to his own place. After closing the doors to his courtyard, this place turned into his private little world.

It wasn’t permitted to light a fire in this courtyard, so items such as lamps and candles were not available. Thus, Yan Liqiang opened the manual at the stone table in the courtyard and studied it attentively.

The moonlit skies were clear on this night, with no clouds in sight and the moonlight shone like silver. Even without a lamp in the courtyard, Yan Liqiang still could clearly read through the entire manual with the aid of the brilliant illumination.

Having only read through it once, Yan Liqiang was able to completely memorize every word and diagram in the manual.

To have such a photographic memory ability in his brain was really absurd. To Yan Liqiang, the book he read before, felt like a picture that had been permanently captured and stored inside his brain– as long as he had even glanced at it once, he could completely remember every detail. Yan Liqiang never had such an ability before, but ever since he had that dream where he recalled the entire contents of the ‘Performing Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing Internal Cultivation Manual’, Yan Liqiang realized that he had somehow inexplicably gained this gift.

Of course, not a soul other than his own knew about this fact.

After reading through the ‘Nine Palace Wind Shadow Steps’ manual, Yan Liqiang shut his eyes and waited until his mood had completely calmed down before returning the manual back within his bosom. Following that, he went to the tree in the courtyard where he once more assumed the Horse Stance.

The Horse Stance was the foundation of all known martial arts. Without this foundation, martial arts would be no different from duckweed on water. This was particularly so when it came to the ‘Nine Palace Wind Shadow Steps’ and such similar footwork manuals, as the area of foundation it tested were the techniques of the lower body and legs. If the foundation of the Horse Stance wasn’t built up, then even if one had a better manual, it would turn out to be a complete waste.

Moreover, today was when Yan Liqiang felt that the condition of his body was superb. He was full to the brim with energy which made this the perfect moment to strengthen the foundation of his Horse Stance.

The instant that Yan Liqiang began to perform the Horse Stance, the entire courtyard fell into a state of absolute silence. The only exception to this silence were the sounds made by insects and frogs that could only be heard sounding from outside the courtyard.

In the moonlight, Yan Liqiang shut his eyes, balancing his body in the Horse Stance posture. His legs stood firm like two pillars while his entire body seemed to be as sturdy as a boulder. Without any reasonable explanation, he appeared to be more imposing than ever.

As his body remained in this position for a whole hour, from his side, a blurry red light had slowly begun to form, enveloping him. Within that blurry light, a silhouette of a rhinodrake steed began to slowly form, spreading a majestic aura throughout the courtyard.

Today, like the past few days, Yan Liqiang spent his day performing the Horse Stance with his eyes closed, immersing himself into it.

For the earlier half of the month, the amount of time that Yan Liqiang spent on practicing the Horse Stance became much longer and as a result, his Horse Stance was becoming more stable by the day. This was especially true for his results of the past two days. Every time he performed the Horse Stance, he felt as though his body was floating on water. The upper half of his body from the waist felt weightless to him while assuming the stance, this caused his entire body to feel extremely light. Only when he was breathing did he sense that his body was slightly undulating. Although it came from a purely spiritual perception rather than an actual physical movement, his body was moving despite being inert. When he was drawing in breath, he could feel his body was inflating like a balloon, which gave the sense that he was floating upwards. Yet, whenever he breathed out, he felt his body dropping back down again.

Yan Liqiang himself also could not ascertain the reason why. His body had gotten used to practicing the Horse Stance for many years, and he was used to being drenched in sweat as well as feeling sore and aching pain in his legs which were always present every day of his life before. However, practicing the Horse Stance to him now felt no different from floating on water. Although this was something that he had never experienced before, Yan Liqiang began to suspect that it would not be a problem for him to practice it for an entire day under such conditions.

Because of the fact that he lacked an experienced master by his side with the ability to advise him, Yan Liqiang was unable to differentiate whether this was a good or a bad state to be in. But while he was in this state, his body was so comfortable that it couldn’t possibly be bad, so he would continue to persevere in doing this.

Today he stayed in this state without knowing for how long when all of a sudden, Yan Liqiang felt a surge of heat rising from the bottom of his feet. The heat firstly warmed up his shanks, feeling as comfortable as soaking them in warm water during a foot massage. Under that warmth, the soles of his feet felt like it had connected with the Earth. It was as though his entire body had been made from mud, and had just emerged from the ground. This gave rise to a sensation in which he’d feel his entire being was merging with the Earth underneath his feet, becoming one entity.

While he was still contemplating on how long this feeling would last, he was hit with the sensation that the heat was beginning to rise up from his shanks, over his knees, continuing to envelop the base of his thighs. From the waist down, the lower body completely felt as though he was soaked in a comfortable lukewarm liquid. Along with his breathing, his body continued to rise up and down. Slowly, the undulation motion formed towards an idea similar to that of riding a rhinodrake steed in a gallop. The strength of his quads seemed to follow the pace of his undulating and breathing conditions, like the surging waves of pulses, being slowly transmitted to his upper body.

Located within his waist area, seemed to be an obstruction which prevented the upsurge of force from spreading. The rippling force kept crashing against the obstruction, the faster the frequency, the more formidable the force became. The temperature from his waist up seemed to be slowly rising and when the might of the force reached its peak, it finally resulted in a loud ‘BANG!’. It was resonating, as the force that was being transmitted upwards had finally broken through the obstruction in the waist area. The heat he felt was similar to the blissful feeling of lukewarm water from under the waist. It burst forth in the form of waves, slowly moving past his pelvis, abdomen, chest, until the point where it was covering the the top of his head.

While he was being enveloped in such warmth, several large tendons in his two legs became increasingly hot, then started to vibrate. The vibrating force was transmitted from his small toes on his feet until it reached the forehead on the top of his head. As for his hands, it was needless to say that the strength in Yan Liqiang’s upper and lower body were thoroughly merging into one, as the paths obstructing their flow was now opened up.

...

Unbeknownst to Yan Liqiang, during the time that he’d spent immersed in practicing the Horse Stance, the small courtyard of his had already been filled with people.

About a total of a dozen people had rushed into the small courtyard of his. Some of them wielded sabers and swords in hand while some of them rushed in armed with water basins, water buckets, and even water jugs, all ready to put out fires.

At this moment, those very same people were all dumbstruck, staring at the scene in front of them. They could see the red light, akin to a fiery blaze, as well as the silhouette of an extremely magnificent rhinodrake steed enclosed within the red light, all the while forming around Yan Liqiang’s body.

Qian Su was also standing amongst the crowd. He was still wearing his night clothes as he had just fallen asleep not long ago. He was instantly awake the moment he heard someone shout ‘FIRE!’ outside. He got up at once, not even sparing the time to wear his clothes and rushed out of his room. After having charged out of his room, he noticed that the so-called ‘blaze’ was actually coming from the courtyard that Yan Liqiang resided in. Nothing else mattered to him in the heat of the moment, as he worried for Yan Liqiang’s safety as well as the supplies kept for military usage. He promptly directed the patrolling soldiers of the Weaponsmiths Quarter to force an entry through the courtyard gate of Yan Liqiang’s temporary residence. He charged in and prepared to put out the fire and initiate the search and rescue.

However, the scene they came across upon bursting into the courtyard was only that of Yan Liqiang who was currently practicing the Horse Stance in the courtyard. The red light that they’d mistaken for a blaze was currently blossoming from Yan Liqiang’s body.

Qian Su’s heart was currently filled to the brim with an astonished, yet pleasantly surprised feeling. Never would he ever have expected that in the few hours that he’d parted ways with Yan Liqiang, he would have caused such a huge commotion.

Each and every single one of the men in the courtyard stood rooted to the spot. Everyone’s envious eyes were focused on Yan Liqiang whose body was enclosed within the red light.

Everyone understood the meaning behind the appearance of the red light, as well as the magnificent rhinodrake steed within it. This was a visual representation of Young Master Yan having broken through one of the stages of the three foundation stages–the Horse Stance Stage! Of the three foundation stages, this was the first but was also the most difficult stage to break through. 99% of those so-called martial artists would fail to pass this stage.

The red light itself as well as the rhinodrake steed emerging from Yan Liqiang’s body that was shrouded by the light; both were classified as phenomena which would automatically occur upon breaking through the first stage. The spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth in this world would resonate upon contact with a martial arts practitioner. When said practitioner broke through an important stage or was successful in the training of any form of martial arts techniques, it would prompt a response from the spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth. This response came in many forms, exhibiting various kinds of Dharmic projection, art manifestation or auspicious form. These phenomena were given rise due to the resonance between a human and spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth, which was impossible to be faked. Due to this, it had also become the most standard and direct tool to test the cultivator’s level. Of course, it also became the best tool for cultivators to flaunt off their cultivation base with.

“Why is it a rhinodrake steed? Why is it a rhinodrake steed...?” The only squad commander leading an army in the Weaponsmiths Quarter was currently standing next to Qian Su. He stared absent-mindedly at the rhinodrake steed emerging from Yan Liqiang’s body, overwhelmed with shock.

As the squad commander, he had seen his fair share of men who succeeded in passing the Horse Stance stage, as he himself had also passed this stage. When the squad commander passed the stage, he also had an auspicious form. However, the thing that stuck in his mind the most was the fact that all of the auspicious form emergences he’d seen in the past was incomparable to the one he was seeing now.

The auspicious form around Yan Liqiang was too powerful and the light had been too strong in the first place. When the auspicious form appeared around his body just now, everyone outside thought that his courtyard had caught fire. Next, which was also the most important point, was the fact that the auspicious form that emerged from Yan Liqiang’s body when he passed the Horse Stance was a rhinodrake steed! A rhinodrake steed!! A rhinodrake steed!!!

This alone could practically drive a man to go insane with jealousy. Because under normal circumstances, 99% of the martial artists who passed this stage would only be able to give rise to an ordinary horse as their auspicious form, the origin of the Horse Stance. Only the extreme minority would have their auspicious form appear in the form of other beasts apart from the horse. This list included tigers, leopards, bears, and elephants when they passed the stage. But that tiny percentage of martial artists were either cultivating extremely powerful arcane secret techniques or they were natural born prodigies, the treasured sons and daughters of the Heavens above, when they passed this stage. When passing through this stage, the more potential in the body that was unearthed, the more likely it was that the auspicious form would reveal beasts apart from horses.

In this world, the beasts revealed in the auspicious form when passing the Horse Stance stage was not only for show but also represented the realm and result they had attained after passing this stage.

The ordinary folks practicing the Horse Stance would be able to increase their body’s strength by the power of an additional horse after passing the Horse Stance stage. They could perform the stance as if they had a horse beneath them, allowing them to achieve the unity of waist and horse, genuinely establishing the foundation for martial cultivation. This would instantly place them above other common folks. For people with other auspicious forms after passing the stage, apart from receiving the corresponding strength of the beasts, they would also obtain additional bonuses of those beasts, such as faster speed, greater strength, greater explosive power and so on. With this, these people would possess even more formidable might after passing the Horse Stance stage. On the road to martial cultivation, they would have a head start so big it would be no different from winning the first step at the starting line.

For ordinary folk, passing the Horse Stance stage was the first step in setting their foundation. This was already enough to fill them with happiness. As for those people who revealed extraordinary auspicious forms when passing the Horse Stance stage, ‘passing the Horse Stance stage’ was instead known as ‘crossing the golden gates’ or alternatively, ‘leaping over the dragon gate’. The future accomplishments of such people were hard to imagine. Such being the case, becoming a Warrior for them seemed to be a done deal.

The passing auspicious form from Yan Liqiang’s body was a rhinodrake steed. This signified that upon passing the Horse Stance stage, Yan Liqiang’s body strength would have an increase equivalent to the power of a rhinodrake steed. There was even a chance that he could also obtain other additional powers of the rhinodrake steed.

When compared to an ordinary horse, not only was the strength of the rhinodrake steed at least two times more, the rhinodrake steed also possessed a stronger endurance and faster speed.

Beasts were all different from one another, with the same being said for horses. Ordinary horses could be divided up into various grades, with the same also being said for rhinodrake steeds. Yet, regardless of how one viewed this scene, the figure of the rhinodrake seen emerging from Yan Liqiang’s body, with its tall frame, radiant eyes, and mighty aura as it galloped with its head held high, rather than being a normal rhinodrake steed, it seemed to be the most elite of its kind.

The most important thing to note here was the fact that Yan Liqiang was only fourteen years of age. Those who are able to pass the Horse Stance stage at this age were as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns. Even for those people who were extremely gifted, they would usually need to wait until they were over sixteen years old before being able to pass the stage.

Practically everyone at the scene knew this fact and it was precisely because of this fact that overwhelmed everyone with shock.

As they stared at the radiance emitting from Yan Liqiang’s body, everyone appeared as though they were witnessing the rise of a martial superstar with their very own eyes.

Amongst the onlookers, was a half-naked soldier who had rushed over while carrying a bucket of water. While staring at the glow emanating from Yan Liqiang’s body, in his dazed state, he accidentally loosened his grip on the wooden bucket still in his hand and it instantly fell to the ground. Amidst the splashing water, the bottom edge of the wooden bucket crashed onto the foot of the person next to him.

“OWWW...” The person who had been hit was caught off guard and couldn’t hold back a blood-curdling scream of pain.

But precisely when this scream erupted, the majestic rhinodrake steed shrouded in the scarlet red light suddenly made a mad dash towards Yan Liqiang. It blended into Yan Liqiang’s body upon contact. The scarlet red glow slowly became dim, and then soon dissipated as though it was never there.

The moment Yan Liqiang opened his eyes, he discovered a large influx of strongly built men carrying various things had barged into his courtyard. And each and every single one of them was glaring at him like a tiger staring at its prey. Quite a few of them were still half-naked, revealing a chest full of hair with saliva almost drooling out from their mouth.

To his surprise, Qian Su was also present and only dressed in his thin nightgown. He was currently eyeing him with a peculiar expression on his face.

F*ck, was this a slumber party or a naked party? Everyone here were all guys! He certainly didn’t swing that way.

Startled, Yan Liqiang subconsciously moved to cover his chest. “What’re all of you doing?”

Yan Liqiang’s reaction rendered everyone speechless. They all looked at each other in dismay, unsure of what to say.

“Everyone disperse at once and return to your posts. For now, please keep quiet about what happened tonight in this courtyard to avoid inviting trouble...” Qian Su spoke first, turning around and ordering the onlookers that had gathered around in the courtyard with an extremely solemn expression on his face.

The moment that Qian Su realized the red light in this courtyard wasn’t a fire, he sent someone to placate the blacksmiths that had been rushing to put out the fire and get them to return to their quarters. So now there was only a small troop of about fifty soldiers from the Weaponsmiths Quarter in the courtyard. Of the group currently gathered, all were Qian Su’s subordinates, so naturally they wouldn’t dare to step out of line.

“Rest assured, Quarter Master. We naturally know how to handle this!” The commander of the squad nodded at Qian Su. He then shot an envious look at Yan Liqiang before turning around to admonish his troop loudly. “Those of you who are currently on duty may return to your posts. Those that are not on duty, may return to your barracks and rest. You are strictly prohibited from discussing or spreading the events that you have witnessed in this courtyard tonight. Any breach will be treated as a violation of military law. Everyone, heed my command. FACE TO THE REAR, AND MARCH...!”

In just the blink of an eye, the soldiers that had been carrying water buckets, sabers and swords all left the courtyard that Yan Liqiang was at. When the last soldier had passed the threshold, the squad commander even closed the door of the courtyard up once again.

“Uncle Qian... what’s going on? Why are you all here?” Yan Liqiang scratched his head while giving Qian Su a puzzled look.

Qian Su explained what had caused all those people to gather here and gave Yan Liqiang a strange look. “Don’t tell me you were unaware of the fact that you passed the Horse Stance stage just now and the auspicious form that you revealed when you passed the stage?”

“What? I passed the Horse Stance stage?!” Yan Liqiang was stupefied on hearing this as a look of disbelief spread across his face. He was so immersed in the realm of Horse Stance earlier that he was unaware of what had been going on outside of his body. He only felt that the state he was in was something that had never happened to him before. It felt very pleasant. Now, his entire body was filled with energy. This kind of situation was completely new to Yan Liqiang, so naturally he was a little clueless. Little did he expect that he had unknowingly passed the Horse Stance stage, thus completing the first step in setting his foundation.

“Give it a try, you’ll know yourself of whether you have passed or not...”

Of course Yan Liqiang would want to try after hearing Qian Su’s words. The auspicious form of the passing of the Horse Stance Stage would only ever appear once, after that, it would never appear again. However, there were plenty of quick methods he could use to check if he had indeed passed the stage.

Yan Liqiang’s didn’t do much. He just stood where he was and forcefully curled in the little toe on one of his feet as it dug into the ground before abruptly releasing it. With just that simple move, Yan Liqiang could hear the Jade Pillow [1] at the back of his head ring out. He clearly heard a ‘dong’ sound in his ears, as if someone had just forcefully beaten once on a drum.

Curling in the toe and hearing the drum – this was the easiest way for one to check if they had passed the Horse Stance stage. This was due to the fact that people who passed this stage would have their large tendons in their legs completely unblocked. This allowed them to course their strength throughout their entire body, especially for the Lesser Yang Meridian that spanned all the way from one’s head all the way to their toes. The moment the tension in his curled-in toe was released, the Lesser Yang Meridian at his feet would vibrate so he could hear something akin to drumbeats in his ears.

To many people, this sound was a celebratory drumbeat that signified the success of setting a solid foundation in martial cultivation.

While still listening to the distinct drumbeat still ringing in his ears, he sensed a new sensation as well as energy in his legs and body. As Yan Liqiang struck his fist out into the air, the energy from his legs and feet traveled to his fist within an instant, suddenly causing his normal punch to take on a different form and speed. The whooshing sound in the air was a few times louder than when he normally practiced his fists techniques. If Yan Liqiang had his current strength back in his battle with Hong Tao at the martial arts academy, then Hong Tao was nothing to be afraid of even with his Iron Palm technique.

An ecstatic look appeared on Yan Liqiang’s face. In this ordinary punch, he was able to re-experience that unstoppable sensation of striking out with his spear along with the momentum of riding on the back of the rhinodrake steed back at home. It really felt as if he was mounted on a running horse.

“Hahaha, I have passed the Horse Stance stage, I have passed the Horse Stance stage! I have passed the first stage in setting the foundation to become a Warrior...!” Yan Liqiang immediately started hopping around in the courtyard, unable to suppress the excitement he had in his heart. He was dancing in joy, happier than landing a great prize in a lucky draw.

Regardless, be it in his past or current life, this was his first time personally experiencing the profoundness and mysterious charm of martial art practice, so it was inevitable for him to feel so excited.

Normal people would be excited for about half a day if their character leveled up in a game, let alone experiencing a level up of your own self in reality.

Qian Su waited until Yan Liqiang had finally calmed down before explaining to him about the auspicious form that had manifested when he passed the Horse Stance stage. Out of curiosity, he then asked Yan Liqiang if he had been cultivating any secret techniques.

Of course, Yan Liqiang shook his head. “I have a rhinodrake steed at home that is used for practicing my horsemanship and gaining insight into the mystery of the Horse Stance. But I have no idea as to why something like that would happen when I passed my Horse Stance stage!”

Qian Su thought about it for a moment but shook his head. He knew Yan Dechang well and he was a blacksmith, so naturally he wouldn’t have known of any profound skills or secret techniques. The same went for Yan Liqiang. The Yan Clan couldn’t even afford to pay for a famous master for Yan Liqiang. If they had any profound skills or secret techniques, they wouldn’t stay cooped up in Liuhe Town for all these years. Furthermore, had he really been practicing such an amazing secret technique over these years, he wouldn’t lose so terribly during the preliminary exam of the Martial Arts County Trial and be forced take refuge in Huanglong County.

“I really didn’t expect this from you, Liqiang. You are indeed a rare talent and a prodigy in martial art practice for you to still be able to breakthrough in the midst of a predicament...” Qian Su was seeing Yan Liqiang in a new light. “I told you to cultivate the ‘Nine Palace Wind Shadow Steps’ that I gave you last time after you passed the Horse Stance stage to treat it as a motivation. I didn’t expect that you would actually manage to pass the Horse Stance stage in such a short period of time, in such a world-shaking way on top of that!”

“Qian Su, you are overpraising me. To be honest, I have no idea what is going on too...” Yan Liqiang foolishly laughed.

“This is the way geniuses are. They are able to instinctively achieve unimaginable things without deliberately trying!” Qian Su lowered his voice a little bit and continued. “The people in the Weaponsmiths will keep quiet about the incident today, so you can stay here without any worries. I will send someone to notify your father of your passing of the Horse Stance stage, so he can rejoice too. As for whether or not you should return to Liuhe Town, your father will probably send word to us. We’ll talk about this again when the time comes!”

Yan Liqiang nodded, as he also wished for his father to learn of this news so he could be happy too.

“Now that you have passed the Horse Stance stage, you’re another step closer to setting your foundation. You have already surpassed most of the people of your age as of right now and will have a promising future. From this point onwards, your strength will increase by leaps and bounds. But make sure to refrain from slacking off at all costs and also stay away from reckless frolics, especially when it comes to women. Be very cautious, do not lose your virginity before you finish setting your foundation. If you lose your primordial yang, you will destroy your own future. Many who passed the Horse Stance Stage weren’t able to make any further progress because they weren’t able to guard against their sexual temptations. They let a moment of pleasure ultimately adversely affect their entire life!” Qian Su solemnly warned Yan Liqiang.

Yan Liqiang was quite moved by Qian Su’s genuine and sincere reminder. He nodded his head vigorously. “I know, Uncle Qian!”

“That’s good then. I shall retire for tonight. You should go rest too...”

...

After Qian Su left, the courtyard quieted down once again, leaving Yan Liqiang all by himself. He lifted his head to gaze at the bright moon and the stars in the sky. His heart rose and fell like the waves, unable to settle down for the longest time...

After the incident today, he reckoned that everyone in the Weaponsmiths Quarter would think that he was some sort of extraordinary genius in cultivation, but in fact, Yan Liqiang himself knew that his aptitude was nowhere close to that of a genius at all.

The root cause of everything was that secret manual.

To be able to pass the Horse Stance stage this fast, the only thing that Yan Liqiang could think about right at this moment was a quote from that book –‘Those who can be pure and empty, will have no barriers. Those who can shed and change, will be unhindered...’ Unobstructed and unhindered would mean being able to proceed smoothly, hence naturally finding ‘a foundation for entering the Dao’.

...

He was an ordinary person in his past life, he was still an ordinary person in this life. However, he knew that his life would begin on a fresh page after tonight as his life would no longer be ordinary from here on out.

When he thought about the secret manual in his mind was only a ten or twenty yuan second-hand book that was sold at a street stall, Yan Liqiang felt bizarre.

In his previous life on Earth, nearly everyone was crazed towards chasing after their materialistic desires. They sunk themselves into dazzling LV bags, iPhones, luxury cars, mansions, diamonds and jewelry, branded watches and all other sorts of luxurious goods.

Yet only a minority had shown interest on truly valuable items such as the secret techniques that transcended worldliness and attained holiness, passed down by Buddha then brought all the way to China by Grandmaster Damo, and was a secret manual that was cultivated by Chinese national heroes like Yue Fei and Li Jing, even if free or nearly free.

Instead, the vast majority chased after bags that cost tens of thousands yuan, handphones that cost a few thousand yuan, or luxury cars that cost several million.

Such an exceptional secret manual only cost tens of yuan, it was even less expensive than a packet of cigarettes, yet was unnoticed by most...

This was how people measured the value of an object in his past life, simply by the number on the price tag displayed.

He wasn’t sure if he should be crying or laughing!

Maybe even God couldn’t put up with this ignorance any longer so He had Yan Liqiang reincarnated into this world along with this secret manual.

Even if anyone were to offer Yan Liqiang a city or a mountain of silver or gold at this moment, Yan Liqiang would still refuse to sell this secret manual. That was because right now in his heart, this secret manual was priceless. It was his future; his everything.

“God, since you have allowed me to live again, so I’m guessing that You don’t wish for me to live a life as another ordinary person...” An odd smile appeared on Yan Liqiang’s face as he faced towards the sky. He muttered under his breath, “Rest assured, I won’t let You down!”

...

Due to the silence that night, Yan Liqiang managed to have a good night’s sleep. The next day, at around five in the morning, Yan Liqiang got up as usual and began his customary morning training.

After attaining mastery in the Horse stance, he found that sure enough, everything became easier. Now it was a lot smoother when he practiced various stances and techniques that were contained in the ‘Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing Manual’. During the course of his training through the entire set of techniques, he realized that the rate of the energy he absorbed and devoured, as well as the Spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth, had increased significantly. When he compared the results to those of the previous days, the effect seemed to have doubled. Yan Liqiang could even feel the spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth was being engulfed and merged into his body while also slowly but surely being guided into his limbs, bones as well as his flesh and blood, constantly cleansing them as he practiced each individual stance of the technique.

After having finished practicing the Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing techniques, he tried to practice the Tiger Roaring Consecutive Fist again. It resulted in another sight to behold. The Tiger Roaring Consecutive Fist that Yan Liqiang had been training in for almost nine years had undergone a complete transformation. Its formidable power had now increased by more than seven or eight fold.

Yan Liqiang’s figure was extremely quick and ferocious without compare. Every time he punched with his fist, the fierce thundering roar of a tiger could be heard from the blast of wind created. This made it not only look very awe-inspiring, but it was also extraordinarily terrifying. To top it off, he had only practiced the Tiger Roaring Consecutive Fist halfway, but a green glow had started appearing from behind Yan Liqiang’s back. Within that light was the illusory image of a bold, powerful and eye-catching tiger.

When the Tiger Roaring Consecutive Fist had been trained to the degree of displaying a martial Dharmic projection, it was a sign of having attained the fourth layer of the Tiger Roaring Consecutive Fist.

Yan Liqiang was taken aback when he sensed the Dharmic projection of the Tiger Roaring Consecutive Fist technique appearing behind him. Prior to yesterday, he felt that the force of his Tiger Roaring Consecutive Fist should still be somewhere within the second layer. Upon attaining the Horse Stance stage, he initially thought that as long as he cultivated for a couple of days, it shouldn’t pose much of a problem to advance the Tiger Roaring Consecutive Fist to the third layer. The sign that indicated having advanced into the third layer was a tiger roar which was emitted when the punch was thrown. But what was out of his expectations was the fact that it didn’t even require much training. All he had done was just wake up after sleeping, then when he began to train his fist again, the roar of a tiger erupted the instant he punched with his fist technique. Without any clamor, his technique had already entered the third layer. While he continued training midway, the Dharmic projection of the technique had already revealed itself to have entered the fourth layer. Just a single round of fist technique practice allowed the realm of his fist technique to consecutively leap two layers, advancing into the fourth layer without any slight hindrance in between.

This matter had allowed Yan Liqiang to personally experience what it meant by ‘to desire training the fist, one would have to train in the fundamentals first’. It had also made Yan Liqiang feel incredibly amazed from deep down because this was simply unheard of.

Could it be that the foundation for the Horse Stance was really that important to martial cultivation? Or was it because of the fact that he was cultivating the Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing technique?

Doubt uncontrollably surfaced from Yan Liqiang’s heart, however, the current him was incapable of distinguishing as to why it would be like this. But in any case, this was a good thing so he felt that he did not need to worry. All he needed to do was to let nature take its course.

After he had finished with practicing the Tiger Roaring Consecutive Fist, Yan Liqiang’s entire body felt at ease. After suppressing and calming his Qi for a few minutes, he felt that it was almost time for breakfast, so he left.

When he was eating breakfast, Yan Liqiang caught a glimpse of various Weaponsmiths Quarter’s soldiers and noticed that the expressions the soldiers were eyeing him with, were different from before. A few days back, the soldiers had met Yan Liqiang with friendly expressions. But today, apart from their friendly expressions, their gaze held a trace of reverence as well.

Yan Liqiang knew that was the result of his performance last night. In a world dominated by martial arts, a man who displayed the potential of a mighty expert would be respected regardless of where he went.

Such a feeling was indeed amazing.

...

Everyone talked and laughed as they finished their breakfast, before leaving the dining hall together. As Yan Liqiang was about to walk out of the dining hall, he noticed that the head of the soldiers, squad commander Zhou Yong, had been staring straight at him, seemingly hesitant about speaking. The majority of the soldiers surrounding them were also quietly shifting their gaze attentively towards him.

“Big Brother Zhou, is something the matter?” Yan Liqiang took the initiative to approach and greet Zhou Yong.

Zhou Yong first gave a quick scan of his surroundings. After discovering that no other smiths were in the vicinity, he furrowed his brows at Yan Liqiang before closing in and whispering, “Master Yan, are you available this morning?”

Master Yan? Yesterday, Zhou Yong had still addressed him as Young Master Yan. But even though the address that he had used today was only shorter by a single word, the appeal it brought was completely different.

“Of course I’m available!” nodded Yan Liqiang.

“It’s like this...” He rubbed his hands together as he spoke, making Zhou Yong seem like he was slightly embarrassed. “My brothers under me had their curiosity slightly piqued after witnessing Master Yan pass the Horse Stance stage last night. Today, they would like Master Yan to drop by our barracks to give them pointers on their techniques and maybe even have some friendly matches together. Would you...”

Yan Liqiang understood it all at once from the moment Zhou Yong had brought it up. He could empathize with how the high school graduates who wanted to get into Project 985 and Project 211 must have felt when they saw the top scorers in the college entrance examinations were accepted into Qinghua University and Peking University. Similarly so, he could also guess how the soldiers of the Weaponsmiths Quarter must have felt when they saw him last night. Initially, Yan Liqiang had planned on heading up the mountains to examine the extent of his strength increase after having passed the Horse Stance stage. Upon hearing Zhou Yong’s invitation, he changed his mind at once. If he wanted to examine his own strength, then perhaps the best method for doing so was for him to go Weaponsmiths Quarter’s barracks.

“I’m free anyway, and since my big brothers want to have friendly matches with me, then let’s head there together. At the same time, I can also learn from Big Brother Zhou and company...”

Seeing that Yan Liqiang was showing such respect towards them and even went as far as to flatter them with such pleasing words, Zhou Yong and each and every one of his soldiers found themselves breaking into a smile. Everyone merrily laughed as they escorted Yan Liqiang to their barracks.

Although the soldiers’ camp was referred to as the ‘barracks’, in reality, it was just a bigger and more spacious courtyard within the Weaponsmiths Quarter.

The courtyard wasn’t that far away from the one that Yan Liqiang was currently residing in. It was less than a hundred meters. Within the barracks were three lines of buildings that formed a concave shape when seen as a whole. In the middle of the three lines of buildings was a field roughly the size of about three to four basketball courts. The ground of the empty field was covered with sandy soil. Just outside of that field was their holding place for a variety of items such as weapons, wooden targets and stone locks used for training in the surrounding area. This was the place that the soldiers would normally train in.

Apart from the men that were stationed to guard the entrance to the Weaponsmiths Quarter at this time, every other soldier within the Quarter were gathered currently together. It was difficult for all of them to mask the exhilaration they felt.

Yan Liqiang glanced at the site and nodded. Cutting to the chase, he asked, “Big Brother Zhou, how do you want to compete?”

Zhou Yong pointed towards a white ring that had been drawn using white chalk located in the middle of the field. “How about we compete in the push-wrestling ring first?”

Yan Liqiang also smiled and nodded. “Sure!”

In this world, push-wrestling ring was a popular type of skills competition game. From the rich and powerful clans, aristocrats and royalty living in the big city all the way down to the peasants and farmers residing in the remote countryside, this was a game that was well-loved by everyone. This game could be played by the elderly from the age of ninety down to six or seven-year-old kids. Furthermore, it was particularly easy to play. Back when Yan Liqiang was staying at Liuhe Town, he frequently played the game along with the other young lads that were of the same age. In the military, this game was also a favorite of countless soldiers.

A skills competition game of push-wrestling ring would first require a site. Should they have a spot, regardless of whether it was a meadow, sandy beach, land, or even the hall of a house, they would draw a ring with a radius anywhere from one to five meter on the ground. The size of the ring could be big or small as it would vary depending on the number of people participating.

After having secured a proper location, everyone could now participate in the skills competition game of push-wrestling ring.

The rules to play the game was simple; participants stood inside of the ring and push their opponent out to be victorious. They only needed to watch out for one thing; while they were still in the ring, they were not allowed to either hit with their hands or kick with their feet to push their opponent out. Apart from this, there were no other restrictions. They could push, drag, pull with their hands, bump with their shoulders, collide with their bodies, hook them with their feet or trip the opponent all they wanted. Even throwing the opponent down was not an issue.

The game could be played pitting one player against another, one against many or many against many. Even a bunch of people were allowed to join in the fight for a battle royale.

Although the rules and methods for the game of push-wrestling ring appeared simple, it was not. This was because participating in the push-wrestling ring would put a person’s might, flexibility, judgment, agility, and reflexes to the test, all the while trying to outlast their opponent. It was not a fight, but a pseudo-fight. Throughout the entire game, there would be an extremely high level of competitiveness. It had the sense of a real combat, while still maintaining a slight harmony between the players so the players would not be severely injured and would unlikely end the game in hostility. Hence, this explained why this game would be so highly received by all social classes and why even the military would use this game of push-wrestling ring to train the soldiers’ stamina and reflexes.

In regards to this, it was somewhat similar to the sumo wrestling sport prevalent during the ancient times in China. But when compared to the sumo wrestling sport, it was more flexible and shared a closer resemblance to a genuine martial battle.

In his previous life, soccer was the number one sport on Earth. When compared to soccer, this push-wrestling ring game in this world was not inferior to soccer in any aspect. The majority of the big cities would even have a specialized push-wrestling establishment, arranging people to participate in push-wrestling ring competitions as well as lotteries.

Before he got beaten down by Hong Tao in the arena in Liuhe Town, Yan Liqiang was the number one in the push-wrestling ring skills competition amongst all of the youngsters in town. Basically, he won more matches than he lost. For the youngsters in town, none of them could even be said to be Yan Liqiang’s match.

Under the strict discipline of Yan Liqiang’s tiger dad, Yan Dechang, this was the only game he was allowed to play since he was young.

Being the first one to enter the ring of this push-wrestling ring game caused Yan Liqiang to smile, “Which amongst these big brothers would like to compete with me?”

One by one, the surrounding soldiers were eager to volunteer. Yet, Zhou Yong cast his gaze at the man with the most sturdy build among the soldiers.

“I’ll do it...” said the mighty youth in a gruff voice, he had a height of more than 190cm, weighing almost two times more than Yan Liqiang. He walked out of the crowd and entered the ring while rolling up his sleeves.

Yan Liqiang parted his legs and casually took his place. He extended his hands and said, “Please.”

“Please!” The soldier stepped forth with a Bow Stance, his pair of hands instantly reaching out to press against Yan Liqiang’s hands before he began to apply pressure.

In the starting round, none of them used any fancy tricks and competed directly with each other using only their physical strength.

The young soldier took on the posture of a Bow-and-Arrow Stance to resist against Yan Liqiang’s forceful push. They had only just locked hands and the young soldier was already exerting his full strength, his entire body akin to a farm cattle plowing through. He had his head hung low while pushing his feet back with all his might. His body propelled forward, intent on shoving Yan Liqiang out of the ring. Yet, Yan Liqiang, on the other hand, was bracing himself with his hands before his chest.

“Come on!””Come on!””Come on!” The surrounding spectators began to shout loudly, stirring everyone up. Abruptly, the atmosphere turned tumultuous.

Slowly, the bulky youth’s breathing became heavy, his face gradually flushed red and his forehead covered in a sheen of sweat.

Yan Liqiang was taking in the force coming from his opponent’s hands. His heart was starting to slowly calm down. If this was him in the past, he absolutely would not have been able to endure such force. But today, Yan Liqiang felt his legs were akin to wooden stakes being nailed to the ground when he stood there, rooted to the spot, his lower body as firm and steady as Mt Tai...

This was the power of cultivating the fundamentals of martial cultivation...

The force of his opponent still slowly increased until it hit a certain point, and after about two minutes, it completely stopped.

Currently, Yan Liqiang was feeling quite puzzled due to the fact that the strength of his opponent didn’t seem to be as powerful as he had imagined. That couldn’t be right. Could it be that his opponent was holding back on exerting of his full strength due to the fact that Yan Liqiang was younger than him? But then again, when he saw the expression on his opponent’s face, especially how the veins on his forehead popped out while he was sweating like a pig and huffing and puffing like a bull, it was evident that he was struggling to use every ounce of his strength in his entire body. He wasn’t going to comment on the rest, but the feet of his opponent had already made two small pits on the ground trying to push Yan Liqiang backward.

How could the physical strength of a person with such a large build be so little?

In but a moment, Yan Liqiang was hit by a sudden realization. The strength of his opponent was neither weak nor he was holding back, instead, this was the result of Yan Liqiang’s drastic increase in strength after passing the Horse Stance stage. On top of that, he could feel his body growing stronger after cultivating the ‘Performing Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing Internal Cultivation Manual’ for only more than half a month but he had never really tested it out. The preface of the manual mentioned that this technique could give rise to divine force upon a person, it also stated that Grandfather Yue Fei could draw a powerful bow of a hundred picul after cultivating it, thus becoming a top figure in the martial world. So perhaps all of that might not just be a bluff after all.

With all of that on his mind, Yan Liqiang suddenly exerted some force into his hands and abruptly pushed outwards. When he did, the force from the bottom of his feet traveled to his hand. That youth who was twice the size of Yan Liqiang was instantly knocked over as if he was being hit by a charging rhinodrake steed. He only felt a wave of tremendous force before his entire body was sent flying out of the boundaries of the white push-wrestling ring, over seven or eight meters in the air, before heavily landing on his back.

The excitement around them suddenly died down as everyone stared towards the ring, stunned. They couldn’t believe that Yan Liqiang’s strength would be so huge as to even be able to send the best soldier amongst them flying out of the ring in an instant. On top of that, he was sent flying over quite a distance. Just how much strength was needed to achieve this?

Yan Liqiang stared at his own palms in amazement. This was the first time his energy fully erupted and he hadn’t expected it to be this violent. At that instant, he only felt as if he had two enormous springs embedded within the bones in his legs. When he exerted force, those enormous springs violently released and sent his opponent flying backward.

That person didn’t really sustain any injuries upon landing on the ground. He just bared his teeth and got up.

Two seconds later, Zhou Yong was the first to react, responding with applause. “AMAZING!” His soldiers followed suit in the applause and loud cheers...

Great confidence rose up from within Yan Liqiang’s heart. He let out a hearty laugh and looked all around him. “My brothers, who else would like to push-wrestle?”

“Four of you go together!”

At Zhou Yong’s command, four men charged out from amongst the crowd of soldiers in the surrounding and entered the ring together, four versus one.

The four soldiers in the ring gave each other a look before charging in together towards Yan Liqiang from one direction in sync. One of them pushed Yan Liqiang against his shoulder as the other pushed against his chest. The third one instantly bent over to hook Yan Liqiang’s calf while the remaining one attached himself to one of Yan Liqiang’s arms, holding on with both hands.

This time, Yan Liqiang no longer planned on just using brute force, instead, opting to utilize his skills. As someone who loved push-wrestling rings, Yan Liqiang knew many various techniques and counters since long ago. His tremendous gain in strength served only to greaten his strength within the wrestling ring, much like adding wings on a tiger[1].

The push-wrestling ring wasn’t wide enough to allow any running and evading within. Therefore, Yan Liqiang wasn’t even bothered by the person who was hooked onto his left calf. Just by taking a step back with his right leg and swinging his body to the side when the other three of them charged towards him, the trio’s synchronized attack was instantly foiled.

The moment he swung his body to the side, the positions of Yan Liqiang and the other four people instantly changed. Yan Liqiang’s back was directly facing towards the two that were pushing against his chest and shoulder, and he firmly returned the favor of the soldier who was aiming to grab his arm by grasping his wrist instead. While the soldier was slightly stunned, with the wrist he grasped, Yan Liqiang pulled him towards the front in the direction of his exerted force. That person’s body, carried by momentum, rushed out of the ring and fell to the ground, making him the first person to be knocked out.

Although this push-wrestling ring game wasn’t a martial battle, it still required the spontaneous reaction in accordance with circumstances. This aspect alone made it quite similar to a martial battle.

In a flash, Yan Liqiang’s back and shoulder had already made contact with the four palms that were extending towards him; by leaning into them, he knocked those two soldiers away.

Within this timeframe, his left leg had also been grabbed by a crouching soldier. Grasping onto one’s leg was part of a grappling technique. Hence, that soldier couldn’t help but feel elated when he had managed to get a grasp on Yan Liqiang’s leg. He was just about to stand up and overturn Yan Liqiang, when Yan Liqiang made an unexpected move by extending the leg that he had just latched on, to the front under his crotch. So when he was about to get up to overturn Yan Liqiang, Yan Liqiang had already used his instep under the soldier’s crotch to hook his butt.

When the soldier got up, Yan Liqiang just conveniently raised his feet, resulting in that person to be lifted by Yan Liqiang’s leg off from the ground first with his feet dangling in the air.

In the past, Yan Liqiang was definitely incapable of lifting his leg while carrying a person of about seventy or eighty kilograms hanging from it. However, this was not even a difficult feat for the current Yan Liqiang. He raised his leg and like a crane, that soldier was easily lifted.

That soldier held on to Yan Liqiang’s leg, but with both of his feet suddenly being lifted off the ground, his body instantly lost its leverage. Hence, the entire weight of his body was pressed against Yan Liqiang’s leg, like a koala bear hugging on a tree.

In the next second, Yan Liqiang retracted his right foot, not giving a chance for the two fallen soldiers to charge at him, then made a 180-degree turn as his left leg flung out, performing the Thunder Flying Kick of the Roaring Tiger Consecutive Fist technique.

This kick was done not for the sake of kicking someone, but rather to fling someone off. Yan Liqiang was directly using his leg like his hand, hence breaking no rules in the process.

Under the great influence of centrifugal force, the soldier that had been holding onto Yan Liqiang’s leg had an innocent look on his face and his mouth hung agape as he was instantly flung away screaming from Yan Liqiang’s leg. He landed about seven or eight meters outside of the ring and tumbled for another seven or eight times before he could crawl back up.

When his left leg fell to the ground, Yan Liqiang did a beautiful turn. Only two out of the four opponents remained.

The two remaining opponents gave each other a glance before they snarled and charged towards Yan Liqiang. Yan Liqiang didn’t concede, he directly met their charge head-on with force. He took a stride and performed the Horse Step Pushing Stance of the Roaring Tiger Consecutive Fist technique. He did so while changing his fists to palms, then pressed them against the shoulders of those two soldiers simultaneously before giving them a chance to react. The countenance of the two soldiers instantly contorted as they hurriedly shifted their force to Yan Liqiang’s hands, in an attempt to push them down.

Yan Liqiang smiled, unleashing the power from his feet. With the push of his palms on each soldier, both of them were sent flying out of the ring at the same time and landed on the ground.

It took less than ten seconds for him to get rid of four people.

“Amazing...” The soldiers that surrounded the push-wrestling ring applauded and cheered at the same time, they were like soccer fans that had just witnessed the scoring of an epic goal.

Compared to the first round, the second round of push-wrestling ring was even more exciting. Yan Liqiang went up against four opponents and managed to end the battle quickly and efficiently, putting on an extremely satisfying show for everyone to watch.

“Hahaha, Master Yan is indeed amazing. I, Old Zhou, would like to give it a try with Master Yan!” The ordinary soldiers in the Weaponsmiths Quarter were no longer qualified to be Yan Liqiang’s opponent. After Zhou Yong witnessed the extraordinary valor of Yan Liqiang, he couldn’t restrain himself from personally coming down to the push-wrestling ring and getting ready to compete with Yan Liqiang.

Zhou Yong was a squad commander who had already passed the Horse Stance stage a few years back. In addition to the training in the army over these few years, his martial arts had long surpassed that of the commoners. This was also the reason why he had managed to get the position of a low-ranking officer.

For Zhou Yong to personally take him on, Yan Liqiang couldn’t ask for more. He had just been thinking of trying his hand with a veteran like Zhou Yong to thoroughly test his strength.

“Hahaha, please go easy on me, Brother Zhou. Don’t make me lose too pathetically...”

“Hahaha, I should be the one asking Master Yan to show some mercy.”

The both of them courteously greeted each other before walking into the push-wrestling ring, prepared to fight against each other.

Naturally, Yan Liqiang wouldn’t dare to be reckless when his opponent was Zhou Yong. To be truthful, had it not been for him passing the Horse Stance stage, thus reaping great harvests and having his strength increase tremendously over these few days, he wouldn’t even be qualified enough to challenge Zhou Yong with the standard he was at a month ago. If Zhou Yong wanted to push-wrestle with him, others might even think that he was bullying a child.

Both of them circled around each other in the wrestling ring twice. Upon seeing that Zhou Yong was taking the initiative to make a move, Yan Liqiang knew that this was Zhou Yong’s act of courtesy towards him. Hence, he also stopped being reserved and immediately took two strides to move in front of Zhou Yong. When he was close enough to Zhou Yong, he flipped over both of his palms and directly pushed towards Zhou Yong’s chest and abdomen area by lunging forward with the Bow Step Lunge stance of the Tiger Roaring Consecutive Fist technique.

Zhou Yong didn’t back down either. He intended to test out the extent of Yan Liqiang’s strength, so he took a step forward and pushed his palms against Yan Liqiang in a similar manner.

‘Bam...’ Both of their palms collided with each other with pure force and without any fancy tricks.

Zhou Yong’s expression slightly contorted as he sensed the force that had transmitted through Yan Liqiang’s hands. It was so massive that it had already exceeded his expectations.

Back when he saw the auspicious form that had appeared during Yan Liqiang’s passing of the Horse Stance stage was a rhinodrake steed, he already knew that Yan Liqiang’s strength would definitely be greatly increased. Thus, Zhou Yong had already mentally prepared himself. However, when both of them fought, Yan Liqiang’s strength still registered as a shock to Zhou Yong, who thought he had already mentally prepared himself. Zhou Yong simply didn’t expect the power on Yan Liqiang would be this massive. The sensation that he felt on his hands that were pushing against Yan Liqiang was just like he was trying to push back a strong charging rhinodrake steed. That huge momentum shocked him numb all the way to his shoulders and he almost couldn’t help but take a step back...

After having passed the Horse Stance stage ten years ago, Zhou Yong didn’t advance to Martial Warrior, instead, he’d been setting his foot into the gentry social class for all these years. But among the external skills he practiced, there were methods to strengthen the body as well as methods to increase strength. Furthermore, his strength was not inferior to a Martial Warrior expert, he had great confidence in his own physical strength. The first time earlier on was only to try out Yan Liqiang’s strength. Zhou Yong himself had yet to use his full strength, he had instead been holding back by thirty percent.

During the very moment that Zhou Yong had been wondering if Yan Liqiang had exerted his full force, he realized that Yan Liqiang didn’t wait for the strength on his hand to dissipate before he rapidly pulled back and switched to another technique. He brought his foot back to the front and within a split second, Yan Liqiang had already knocked into Zhou Yong with his shoulder....

To have been able to unleash and pull back that quickly, it was evident that Yan Liqiang hadn’t been using his full strength as well just now. He too, was testing out his strength, which caused Zhou Yong to be even more surprised.

...

As seen from the battle between Yan Liqiang and Zhou Yong, it could be said that the two had both met their match. Zhou Yong himself liked competing in skills through a game of push-wrestling ring. With all of his accumulated experience, no one within the entire Weaponsmiths Quarter was his match. However, Yan Liqiang wasn’t any weaker. Although he lacked experience when compared to Zhou Yong, he possessed a great strength akin to that of a tiger descending the mountain[1] that was also coupled with his sharp instincts.

The two men traded blows back and forth with each other. They were both strong and quick, and while fighting within the ring made it impossible for the eyes to process every single thing. The soldiers in the surroundings cheered loudly in excitement.

...

Yan Liqiang wasn’t sure of how Zhou Yong was feeling at that time, but he felt great. Zhou Yong was indeed a worthy adversary. His actions and responses were ruthless and direct, efficient and unscrupulous like that of a soldier. This was different from Yan Liqiang’s previous opponents. During this match with Zhou Yong, Yan Liqiang himself had been receiving a huge harvest in terms of experience. His confidence was built up all of a sudden.

Zhou Yong wasn’t your average Joe. This man here was, in fact, a genuine squad commander among the army of the Great Han Empire; a professional amongst the country’s martial law enforcers. Although a squad commander was a basic ranking officer, it was impossible for one to be able to hold this position without a remarkable amount of bravery and strength in the military.

...

Within five minutes, the two of them while pushing against each other were nearing the white circle, the very border of the push-wrestling ring.

In a flash, Yan Liqiang seized this as an opportunity to use the Plucking the Stars and Gazing the Moon stance from Tiger Roaring Consecutive Fist. Instantaneously, his right hand reached through and under Zhou Yong’s armpit and with just that single hand, lifted Zhou Yong up. This left Zhou Yong aghast. He was aware of Yan Liqiang’s strength. At such a moment, if both of his feet were off the ground and he lost his balance in the midst of being hoisted up by Yan Liqiang, then he was sure to lose. Being in such a vulnerable position, allowed him to be easily thrown off the ring by Yan Liqiang. In such a circumstance, without a second thought, he hooked one of his arms around Yan Liqiang’s right arm. At the same time, he twisted his body around to Yan Liqiang’s side with the intention of knocking him out of the ring.

Yan Liqiang smiled faintly. Using his body at this critical moment, he raised his right hand and with a twist of his body, managed to turn his body around under his own arm. During the brief moment of time that his right arm had been passing through Zhou Yong’s waist, his right hand accidentally swept through Zhou Yong’s clothes. He then proceeded to get into a defensive posture and collided against Zhou Yong’s body which rammed towards him.

Zhou Yong did that to save himself. Like a collision with a bull, it had been very powerful.

His body crashed into Yan Liqiang’s upper arm. Yan Liqiang immediately retracted his arm as his whole body retreated five to six steps. He was swiftly knocked out of the ring by Zhou Yong.

“Great!”

“Marvelous!”

Upon seeing Zhou Yong emerge victorious from the intense competition of skills between the two, the surrounding soldiers cheered loudly. Everyone was in great delight as their applause rang out loudly. The soldiers had been defeated by Yan Liqiang in the two rounds prior, but their chief had managed to win back their pride. Every single one of them was ecstatic.

Yan Liqiang was all smiles. He cupped his hands in salute towards Zhou Yong, “Brother Zhou is terrific, and indeed skillful! I admit defeat!”

Zhou Yong, as the victor, took a deep glance at Yan Liqiang. The movements during their battle just now were too fast, the spectators might not have been able to keep up with their pace. And even if they had been able to cope with their speed, it would have been impossible for them to understand the profundity within. But, Zhou Yong understood within his heart. Judging from Yan Liqiang’s standards, if Yan Liqiang’s hand wasn’t in a defensive position, but rather placed on his waist during the final moment, then with Yan Liqiang’s strength, he would have been easily thrown out of the ring before he could even have the chance to ram into him.

Yan Liqiang must have lost on purpose during their bout so that Zhou Yong would win. Looking at how the soldiers in the surrounding were looking at him with admiration, Zhou Yong instantly understood Yan Liqiang’s intention. Yan Liqiang had purposely allowed for him to maintain his authority and pride in front of his subordinates.

Yan Liqiang had leaped over the dragon gate like a carp[2] and passed the Horse Stance stage at the mere age of fourteen. There was no doubt that he would be able to advance to Martial Warrior in the future. When it came to social relationships, for such a sophisticated person at such a young age and to be able to handle situations with sincerity and experience, it would be impossible for him to not achieve stellar success in the future. This youth was definitely not your average teenager.

A thought flashed through Zhou Yong’s mind. His understanding towards Yan Liqiang had increased promptly; he truly held the intention of building a friendship with him. If he didn’t make friends with such a young elite like him now, then when else would he find a better time? He wasn’t going to wait for him to succeed first then only buddy up with him.

“Hahaha! I am ashamed, I thank Master Yan for giving in...” Zhou Yong said while he cupped his hands in obeisance towards Yan Liqiang. Both of them had a tacit mutual understanding towards one another so they naturally understood each other’s exchanged words and smiles. When the surrounding soldiers heard their conversation, they only thought of it as Zhou Yong simply being humble after his victory and didn’t give further thought to it.

“Brother Zhou need not to be modest. I have just passed the Horse Stance stage and I’m lacking experience in many aspects. I still have much to learn from Brother Zhou!”

“Master Yan has passed the Horse Stance stage at the age of fourteen. With the foundation of the Horse Stance stage, I reckon that it won’t even take you two or three years to pass the next Stretching Tendon and Extending Bone stage. How can I ever compare with your future achievements?” Zhou Yong said as he walked out of the wrestling ring. He came face to face with Yan Liqiang. “I realized that Master Yan mostly used the moves from the Tiger Roaring Consecutive Fist technique in the wrestling ring. Although this fist technique is commonly seen, it appeared to be entirely different when executed by Master Yan. It should have at least reached the fourth layer. I wonder if Master Yan has invested his time practicing any other martial techniques apart from this one?”

Yan Liqiang smiled and shook his head, “I’m currently building up my foundation so the techniques that I have practiced were all of the basics. I haven’t managed to practice any other martial techniques.”

“Then, I wonder if Master Yan has ever practiced archery before?” Zhou Yong continued to ask.

“No, I’ve never tried!”

He had never practiced archery before, so naturally, he didn’t own any kind of bow.

“Archery is the first of the Confucian Six Arts of a Martial Warrior. Master Yan should learn archery after having advanced to a Martial Warrior in the future....” Zhou Yong said to Yan Liqiang. He then turned his head around and barked an order to one of the soldiers who was always following him. “Shao Ling, go to my room and bring over that war bow that is always placed on the weapon rack.....”

As soon as the soldier heard his order, he sped off towards a house next to the barracks.

The minute Yan Liqiang heard it, he understood what Zhou Yong was planning on doing. He hurriedly declined, ” Brother Zhou, how can I accept your bow? I shouldn’t!”

A war bow was different from an ordinary bow, just like how a sports car was different from an ordinary car. An ordinary bow could be made out of bamboo by anyone at home. But a war bow was a bow that could be used on an actual battlefield, an environment where the demands for a bow’s quality and power were especially strict.

Due to the materials needed and time constraints in producing a war bow in this era, it was amongst one of the most expensive weapons. Among the weapons of the same level, the price of the war bow was more expensive than other weapons of similar quality. A slightly better war bow could easily cost more than ten taels of gold. It was not something that just anyone could afford.

The barracks was just beside them, only a few steps away from where they were standing. So, while Yan Liqiang was still rejecting the offer, that soldier had already returned with the bow in hand.

That bow was being kept in a perfectly sealed bow bag, so he could not see its features. But with Yan Liqiang’s judgment, within a single glance, he already knew that within the bow bag was no ordinary bow.

The bow bag was made out of precious rhinoceros’ leather. It was entirely green and covered with beautiful patterns, and resembled the shape of a half-crescent. The entire bow bag was very long, as it could almost reach Yan Liqiang’s chin when it stood on the ground. Putting everything else aside, just the materials and craftsmanship alone would cost a lot.

Zhou Yong opened up the bow bag and took out the bow. Upon seeing the bow, Yan Liqiang couldn’t help but be shocked. “Brother Zhou, could this bow possibly be the legendary Horned Python Bow...?”

“Hahaha! So, Master Yan also has heard about the Horned Python Bow before. Not bad! This bow is indeed the Horned Python Bow...” Zhou Yong lovingly gazed at the black war bow as his hand gently caressed the sleek body. “This was obtained by one of my good brothers on a battlefield. He later gifted it to me. It requires the draw strength of at least five piculs for anyone to be able to use this bow. It is too strenuous for me to use but with Master Yan’s superhuman strength, this bow will surely fit you...”

“Brother Zhou, it’s too precious. It is truly too precious! I can’t accept this!” Yan Liqiang waved his hands frantically as he rushed to decline the offer.

Previously, Yan Liqiang had thought that Zhou Yong had planned on giving him an ordinary war bow. Who would have thought that Zhou Yong was going to give him an actual Horned Python Bow? To put it simply, this was a genuine Horned Python Bow, it was essentially the Ferrari among war bows. It was impossible to buy this Horned Python Bow, which was right in front of his eyes, for any price of less than a hundred taels of gold. Even with Zhou Yong’s status as a squad commander, this item was probably among one of his most valuable belongings and assets.

Zhou Yong frowned all of a sudden, “We are martial practitioners. We do not go back on the words we have spoken. Could it be that Master Yan won’t accept my gift because you look down on me? Do you perhaps think that I, Zhou Yong, who is only a squad commander, is unfit to befriend Master Yan?”

Zhou Yong’s words were too serious. The surrounding soldiers instantly went silent. Every single had their eyes set on Yan Liqiang.

“That’s not it, Brother Zhou. This truly is...”

“Take it!” Zhou Yong directly shoved the bow into Yan Liqiang’s arms. “If you don’t accept this bow today, don’t ever call me Brother Zhou ever again! I am too embarrassed to take back the things I have given away, so I’ll just smelt it in the furnace of the blacksmith anyways...”

Yan Liqiang knew he couldn’t reject it and took a deep breath. He suppressed his excitement and accepted the bow. He cupped his fist with his other hand and respectfully said, “Then Liqiang shall accept Brother Zhou’s gift today. If Brother Zhou thinks highly of me, then from now on please refrain from calling me Master Yan. Just Liqiang will do!”

“That’s right!” Zhou Yong laughed heartily, “Come, come! Let us try this bow out over there! Let the brothers in the barracks witness your superhuman strength!”

“Brother Zhou, I have never practiced archery before.....”

“That’s alright. It is easy to learn. I’ll just explain it and you’ll be able to pick up immediately.....”

Zhou Yong was right. It was indeed not difficult to learn archery, at least it wasn’t harder than it had been for him to learn how to drive.

When it came to archery, even an inexperienced person who had never picked up archery would be able to shoot an arrow if you gave him a bow. The ones who had previous experience would be able to shoot better. ‘Better’ being dependant on the following aspects – stance, holding the bow, nocking the arrow, hooking the bowstring, pushing the bow, drawing the bow, anchoring, positioning, aim and release. A total of only ten steps and moves.

These movements were similar to those in golf and tennis, sports that had rules and techniques that had been well tested and reinforced. These techniques were not complex. Rather, they were even easier to execute than learning a broadcast radio exercise from the beginning to the end. Normally, anyone would get the hang of it after a round of explanations and then a hands-on session with some corrections done. The difficulty wasn’t that high.

In just less than ten minutes, with Zhou Yong giving instructions at the side, Yan Liqiang had managed to grasp ahold of it almost immediately. He was able to remember the main aspects of those ten movements in archery very quickly, causing Zhou Yong to shower him with praises.

After grasping the basic aspects of archery, Yan Liqiang spent the entire morning hanging out with Zhou Yong and his soldiers in their barracks. He practiced archery and observed the soldiers conduct training in their spear formations. He also exchanged ideas with the rest on martial techniques as well as their experiences on cultivation.

Quite a number of soldiers asked Yan Liqiang about tips and tricks for performing the Horse Stance, and Yan Liqiang wasn’t selfish when it came to answering. Apart from his secrecy of the ‘Performing Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing Internal Cultivation Manual’, he was very open when it came to sharing about the sensation that he had felt when he passed the Horse Stance stage. The breathing pattern, the neither floating nor sinking sensation that his mind experienced, and the feeling of the outer tension and inner relaxation of his body that he felt when passing the stage. He related everything to the soldiers, benefitting many of them. They were all extremely grateful to Yan Liqiang. One couldn’t simply gain this kind of knowledge from just anywhere in this era.

A whole morning passed by in just the blink of an eye. When the lunchtime call was heard, Yan Liqiang went together with everyone to the dining hall. He parted ways with Zhou Yong and the rest only after eating lunch, then returned alone to his residence in the small courtyard. After arriving at the small room in the loft, he shut the door and took out the bow bag that Zhou Yong had given to him. He placed it on the table and opened it to take out the Horned Python Bow that was contained within, then proceeded to admire it from every angle.

This Horned Python Bow was a little shorter than the longbow bag that contained it, despite so, it still remained prestigious-looking. It felt heavy in his hands and gave off a very pragmatic and reassuring feeling.

Earlier in the morning today, at the camp, Yan Liqiang appeared to be very calm. However, in actuality, Yan Liqiang’s heart had been racing like mad when he accepted this Horned Python Bow from Zhou Yong. He was so excited that it was difficult for him to contain himself.

This was a Horned Python Bow, the extraordinary Horned Python Bow!

This was indeed a coincidence as Yan Liqiang just so happened to have dabbled in archery during the very month that he broke up with Lu Jiaying on Earth in his past life. One of his clients was fond of archery and had financially invested in an archery club in the city that he lived in. When Yan Liqiang visited the client that one time, the client brought him to the archery club to have some fun. After that, Yan Liqiang found himself hooked on archery.

Before he got into archery, Yan Liqiang had never really held any interest towards other sports despite having also dabbled in golf, tennis, basketballs and so on. He had no idea as to why, but from the moment he tried archery, he fell in love with the feeling of releasing the arrow from his hands.

For Yan Liqiang, his heart would always be filled with a serene pleasure the moment the arrow was released from his hands. To him, it didn’t feel like he was shooting an arrow, but rather it was like seeing an imprisoned bird being liberated from by his hands, sent to its freedom in the vast sky, the forest or anywhere else.

Yan Liqiang wasn’t sure if this feeling was zen or a psychological issue with him.

During his first visit to the archery club, Yan Liqiang accepted a compound bow that his client had handed over to him on the archery range. After letting loose a few stray arrows without any guidance from a coach, archery became an addictive drug that he couldn’t extricate himself from.

The membership fee for joining the archery club was 150,000 yuan. That client only registered people with premium memberships and Yan Liqiang, who was embarrassingly short of money, buried the joy and the palpitations of his heart. All he could do was to silently add another item to his list of his life goals.

It was a pity that he went through reincarnation before he got the chance to realize that list.

...

Yan Liqiang gently caressed the frame of that black bow. He was more stirred up right now than he had been during the first time he had touched Lu Jiaying. The frame of that black bow was sleek, exquisite and had a great texture as it had spiral patterns covering its body. Touching it felt no different from touching metal.

In the eyes of many, the Horned Python Bow was not simply just a bow, like how the Rolex wasn’t simply just a watch.

During the construction of an average qualified war bow, the required materials were wood, horn, sinew, glue, silk, and paint. Not only were the materials expensive, the process of making it was complex and required the considerations of various climate’s influence. The wood of the bow staves was cut in the winter, the horn was treated in the spring, the sinew was treated in the summer and the materials were assembled in the autumn. The limbs of the bow and everything else on the frame of the bow were all formed at the onset of winter, the appearance of the bow was refined at the onset of frost. The time for a war bow to be constructed to its completion would require at least three years. And this was also the factor that held the most contribution to the sky-high price of a qualified war bow.

Despite this, the Horned Python Bow was even more expensive than those war bows that were made from this crafting procedure. The only reason for its value was because of the fact that entire frame of the Horned Python Bow was all natural, and not man-made.

The frame of the Horned Python Bow was made from the entire skull of a Horned Python.

The Horned Python was a rare beast that existed only in this world. Compared to a normal python, the Horned Python grew a pair of long horns similar to cow horns on its head. Those long horns growing on its skull made a fine and slender bow frame. This was the reason why it was named Horned Python.

The horns that grew out of the Horned Python’s head were different compared to the horns that grew on the heads of other species. Those horns on the Horned Python’s head were directly connected to its skull, making it entirely whole and extremely firm. Other than its firmness, its two horns were extremely tough and had an elastic attribute. Under a great force, the horns would deform, but the moment the force was released, the two horns would spring back to its original position.

The features of these twin horns on the Horned Python’s head were even better than the features of a man-made war bow. It was also due to these features that the head of a Horned Python became the best material for the frame of a war bow while the sinew of the Horned Python became the best matching bowstring.

It could be said that in the eyes of many people, a Horned Python was pretty much the equivalent of a fine bow.

The Horned Pythons lived in the wilderness and not only they were quite rare but extremely dangerous as it was also very aggressive. Even three to five people with weapons, when met with a Horned Python, would only be able to flee. Because of these reasons, the value of a Horned Python Bow would be inconceivable, in the least over a hundred taels of gold.

Therefore, Yan Liqiang wasn’t at all expecting for Zhou Yong to have such a fine bow in his possession.

Holding such a fine bow in his hands, Yan Liqiang was so fond of it that he could hardly bear to put it down as he swept his gaze over the entire bow frame.

The blacksmith had taken special care of this Horned Python bow, and its bowstring along with it. The grip in the middle of the bow no longer resembled the skull of a Horned Python. A section of it had been removed and it was now plastered with a layer of slip-resistant leather. The leather itself was bound tightly by a weave of silver threads. After the eye sockets in the skull were cleaned, it was just right to be used as an arrow rest. The nocking points at the ends of the bow were also coated with metal to make it convenient to affix the bowstring.

At first sight, one could tell this entire bow was of superior quality.

Apart from these, there were five gorgeous dark red ring patterns on each end of the bow, on different parts of the bow limbs that were akin to cow horns. These patterns were not added to the bow by the blacksmith. Instead, they were like the growth rings of trees, representing the age of the Horned Python since its birth. It was said a Horned Python would grow a ring pattern on its twin horns every four years after its birth. This five-ring pattern was an indication that this Horned Python was twenty years of age. At the same time, it was also an indication that this was a powerful bow of five piculs.

As the Horned Python grew, the toughness and elasticity of its twin horns would correspondingly become stronger every four years. Hence, drawing it would also require greater strength and this amount of strength happened to be just about one picul for every four years of growth.

As Yan Liqiang stared at the five-ring pattern, he could only sigh in amazement at the Horned Python. For such a fine python snake with horns on its head that could be made into a bow, the sinew in its body could be made into bowstrings and even the patterns that recorded its age could be used as an indicator of a bow’s strength. How could anyone possibly let it go?

Zhou Yong said that he couldn’t draw this powerful bow of five piculs. Yan Liqiang had naturally found it to be embarrassing to show off in front of him. That was why he had used another bow that only required the strength of two piculs when he practiced archery in the barracks just now.

Thirty jin was about thirty catties, one hundred twenty catties was equivalent to a picul. Every picul was 120 jin, which was equivalent to sixty kilograms. A pull strength of at least three hundred kilograms would be needed in order for one to be able to draw a powerful bow of five piculs. It was simply impossible for an ordinary person to draw this type of bow.

After delicately playing with the Horned Python Bow for a while, Yan Liqiang stood up properly and grasped the grip of the bow with his left hand while holding the bowstring with his right. He took a deep breath then exhaled loudly and pushed outwards with his left hand while pulling back with his right. The energy focused in his legs, waist, and back all resonated at the same time. The Horned Python Bow was slowly being drawn all the way back by Yan Liqiang.

With the success in the Horse Stance stage, Yan Liqiang’s body gained an additional strength of a rhinodrake steed. This powerful bow of five piculs was not a strenuous weight to pull for him, but instead, it felt just right.

His hand slacked and the bow snapped like a crack of thunder. A loud crack reverberated throughout as if a firecracker had just gone off inside of the room...

“Hahaha...” Yan Liqiang laughed out loud in the room in extreme happiness when he thought of how his desire had actually been realized here today.

Yan Liqiang put the Horned Python Bow back into the bow bag after testing it and left the bow bag in his room. Since this courtyard was the most important place in the Weaponsmiths Quarter, it was watched by countless pairs of eyes. Since there was no chance for any outsiders to enter the Weaponsmiths Quarter anyway, he didn’t have to worry about leaving the bow here either.

After putting away the bow, Yan Liqiang took a glance at the pile of sulfur in the corner of the room. He suddenly recalled something, and with that in mind, he closed the room door, left the courtyard and made his way to Qian Su’s resting quarters.

The door leading to the courtyard that Qian Su resided in had been left open. Just a slight push was needed for the door to allow entry. Yan Liqiang entered and was greeted with the sight of Qian Su lying down with his eyes shut, enjoying the cool air of a noon break. He was in a deck chair under a grape trellis in his own yard, leisurely rocking the chair back and forth.

For the past few days, Qian Su had been happily living a debauched life outside. Today, however, he remained in the quarter to recuperate and didn’t leave the camp at all. After lunch, he stayed in the quarter to rest.

For some unaccountable reason, the moment he saw Qian Su acting like his, Yan Liqiang recalled a time in his previous life where he saw two men relaxing in the resting area of the bathing and recreation center after brandishing their beloved ‘swords’ for two hours.

“Cough...cough...” Yan Liqiang cleared his throat twice.

Finally, Qian Su’s eyes fluttered open. Upon seeing Yan Liqiang, he sat up from his deck chair and gestured for him to come over.

“Uncle Qian!”

Qian Su sized up Yan Liqiang from head to toe with a glance, a teasing smile appearing on his face. “I heard Zhou Yong gave the Horned Python Bow from his collection to you?”

“Under the circumstances, it wouldn’t have done me any good to refuse it.” Yan Liqiang hadn’t been surprised in the least. Although Qian Su wasn’t present at the barracks earlier this morning, any matter big or small that happened in the Weaponsmiths Quarter could ever escape him. As the Quarter Master, if he didn’t even have such ability, then wouldn’t that be disgraceful?

“Hahaha! Since you’ve already accepted it, you should just take it! That Horned Python Bow is worth at least a hundred and thirty gold taels. It’s worth a fortune and it’s a strong bow of five piculs. Zhou Yong was struggling when he attempted to use it, and the bow has since been in his care for a number of years. Seems to me that you are fated to have it and that it has been made for your sake!”

“Big Brother Zhou was just being too courteous!”

“Although I am not a Martial Warrior, I still know that there must be a reason as to why archery is the first of the Confucian Six Arts. A lot of different tribes even place the art of archery on par with martial arts. Especially in the military, the bow is an effective weapon in war. The layers in the art of archery greatly surpass that of martial arts. If a man can establish his foundation to some extent in archery, he can also achieve meteoric success. Upon entering the military, the highest rank that a newly advanced Martial Warrior can achieve would be the same rank as me, a Feiyang Commandant. However, even if the man hadn’t established his foundation and wasn’t a Martial Warrior, if his cultivation in archery reached the realm of the Third Heavenly Layer, he would be a Yingyang Commandant upon entering the military, a rank higher than mine. Not only that, but they are favored more by the upper echelons...” After he finished his meaningful and heartfelt words, Qian Su reflected on what he just said and smacked his mouth. Soon after, he recalled that Yan Liqiang was here for something, “Oh right, what is it that you need? Do you want to leave the quarter?”

“Uhm...I’ve stayed in the quarter for half a month. I want to take a breath of the fresh air outside and relax for a bit. I have never been to Huanglong County before, so I wanted to take a stroll around the county to relax so that I can improve even further!” explained Yan Liqiang as he smiled.

“Two days ago if you wanted to head out of the quarter alone, I’m afraid I would’ve had to arrange two soldiers to follow you so I can feel at ease. But after seeing your performance today, after your passing of the Horse Stance Stage, I’m aware that regular folk are no longer your match. Thus arranging two of my men to tag along with you will not be of much use!” Qian Su pondered for a moment, then took out a token. “Let’s do this, take my token and hold on to it. I’m well-acquainted with Constable Zhu and the other county officers of Huanglong County, and they also recognize my token. Should you encounter any problems that you can’t resolve in the county town, reveal this token and say you’re my nephew. Nobody will dare to do anything to you!”

“Thank you very much, Uncle Qian!” Yan Liqiang took the token and glanced at it before tucking it safely in his clothes. Soon after, he bid goodbye to Qian Su.

He had just reached the entrance of Qian Su’s courtyard when Qian Su’s voice once again rang out behind him, “Remember! Lascivious activities can lead to bitter consequences. You’ve just passed the Horse Stance stage, so it’s normal to be prone to outside attractions. But be careful not make a mistake on this matter, it’ll destroy your future as a result!”

Could it be that Qian Su thought the reason why he wanted to go to the county town was to brandish his ‘great sword’? Having been rendered speechless, Yan Liqiang turned around to cast a glance at Qian Su. “Uncle Qian has reminded me twice! I won’t make a mistake!”

“Then that’s good. Then that’s good!” Yawning, Qian Su lay back down on his deck chair.

...

After leaving Qian Su’s courtyard, Yan Liqiang immediately made a beeline towards the entrance of the quarter. The soldiers manning the Weaponsmith Quarter’s entrance warmly greeted Yan Liqiang when they saw him. “Master Yan, are you planning to head out?”

“Yeap! I’ve been cooped up here for too long. I plan on taking a stroll around the county town!”

“If you’re heading to the county town by foot, you’ll need to walk for the time it takes two incense sticks to burn in order to reach the place. It’s quite a distance to walk. How about Master Yan takes a ride in our quarter’s cart? The quarter’s cart just so happens to be going to the county town today to buy salt, so it’s just along the way for them to drop you off...”

“What a coincidence! May I know when will the cart depart? If it’s too late, I will just walk on my own!”

“Ah! There’s no need to wait! No need to wait! Look, Master Yan, it’s already here!” The soldier pointed. As Yan Liqiang turned around, he was greeted with the sight of a servant from the Weaponsmiths Quarter driving a horse cart from around the corner.

The driver of the cart was an old servant working in the Weaponsmiths Quarter’s kitchen so naturally, he recognized Yan Liqiang. The servant promptly requested Yan Liqiang to get on after Yan Liqiang stopped him at the entrance to explain his intention.

The horse cart was used to pick up goods, thus the lack of comfortable seats in the back. There were only a couple of boards, but Yan Liqiang wasn’t picky, so he promptly leaped into the cart and sat on the board behind. After that, he left the Weaponsmiths Quarter in the small cart, arriving at the main road outside.

The servant driving the cart, on seeing that Yan Liqiang was seated in the back, felt uneasy so he turned around to say to him. “Young Master Yan, this cart is used to pick up goods so it’s uncomfortable to sit behind. Why don’t you sit in front? I can get off and walk while leading the horse, it makes no difference to me!”

At the front of the cart, there was only enough space for the cart driver so should Yan Liqiang choose to sit there, the servant from the Weaponsmiths Quarter could only get off.

Yan Liqiang smiled and waved his hands. “Hahaha! No need! No need! It’s the same if I sit behind here. Aren’t there a couple of boards here too? I can sit on these. Don’t worry...”

The servant asked a couple more times, and after realizing that Yan Liqiang really didn’t mind, he laid his heart down to rest.

“Right, uncle! Are you familiar with Huanglong County’s county town?”

“Familiar? Of course, I’m familiar. There’s nothing I don’t know about it. I’ve lived in Huanglong County for decades!”

“Then do you know if there are any places that are fun or interesting to see in Huanglong County?”

“There are a lot....”

On hearing Yan Liqiang’s inquiry, the cart-driving servant spirit was lifted. As he drove the cart, he introduced a variety of things that were available in Huanglong County to Yan Liqiang. In return, Yan Liqiang eagerly listened to him with great interest.

Throughout the entire journey, Yan Liqiang hadn’t found chatting with the cart-driving servant to be a bore. It only lasted a total of ten minutes, and the horse cart that he was on eventually entered Huanglong County’s county town through the south gate. The soldier manning the entrance to the county town seemed to be aware of where this horse cart originated from. He didn’t deliberately try to make things difficult for them nor make any effort to examine the cart. Just like that, he allowed them entry.

It was only the afternoon and the streets of Huanglong County’s county town were already bustling with activity. It was congested with horse carts and people bustling about at this hour, making it out to be incredibly lively. Casting a glimpse around, Yan Liqiang noticed that the streets of the Huanglong County’s county town were definitely much more spacious and wider than Qinghe County. The high-rise stores on the street were also greater in number, and there were also many incoming and outgoing merchants and businessmen. The entire county town was also two or three times larger than the county town of Qinghe County. It was almost on the same scale as a city.

Yet, the only similarity that the county town of Huanglong county shared with the county town of Qinghe County was that the majority of the strong youths in the street had weapons such as sabers or swords strapped to their waist. Everybody seemed to be accustomed to this.

“Young Master Yan, the Myriad Abundance Grain Shop is just up ahead, right around the left corner of the main street. May I ask where Young Master Yan is planning to go to? I can drive you there first...”

“Thank you, but there’s no need for that. I’ll just get off here!” said Yan Liqiang, swiftly leaping down from the cart. He then stood to the side of the road.

“Will Young Master Yan be using the cart to head back? If you want, I can wait for you at the county town’s entrance at the south gate once I’m done picking up the goods!”

“It’s alright. I’ll go back on my own once I’m done strolling about...” said Yan Liqiang as he waved his hands at the cart driver. In the blink of an eye, he had already made his way into a crowd of people.

Seeing that he had gone, the cart-driving servant smiled and shook his head. Without any further delay, he drove his cart away to purchase goods.

...

Yan Liqiang strolled about on the main street of the Huanglong County town, in search of a shop that made ice.

Within the county seat of Qinghe County, there was an ice shop. And since Huanglong County was wealthier than Qinghe County to an unaccountable extent, it made sense that there had to be an ice shop around somewhere.

From his conversation with the cart driver on the way here earlier, he had already obtained quite a lot of useful information. He discovered that the number of ice shops within the Huanglong County town wasn’t only one, but three.

One of these ice shops was located near Chaoyang Alley whilst another one was situated not far from the county office. In addition to those two, a third ice shop could be found at a place called the Great Water Well up north of the county town.

It was Yan Liqiang’s first time here. Although he already had prior knowledge of where the ice shops were situated, he was still unfamiliar with the structure of the town, so he could only slowly fumble around as he searched for them.

And as for the reason why he was in search an ice shop, was naturally not for the sake of buying ice. But rather, for the sake of purchasing another kind of item: saltpeter.

Half a month earlier, when he’d seen the sprinkled sulfur in his room after just having arrived at the Weaponsmiths Quarter, the idea had already been formed within his mind.

The reason why he came to Huanglong County was to avoid misfortune, and this misfortune came from the Hong Clan. The Hong Clan and his own household were both situated in Liuhe Town, he could run but he could not hide forever. Whenever he thought of the underhanded methods that the Hong Clan used, Yan Liqiang’s heart was overwhelmed with a great sense of crisis.

As a normal person, he naturally wouldn’t resign himself to his fate, waiting for the Hong Clan to carry out their schemes on him, destroying his future prospects. After the day that he found sulfur in the Weaponsmiths Quarter, Yan Liqiang spontaneously crafted the plan to create gunpowder.

There was no such thing as gunpowder at this current time in this world. But as a man from modern times and a youth who had been baptized by ‘Landmine Warfare’ [1] since young, Yan Liqiang was very familiar with the formidable might of gunpowder. If only he could create gunpowder, then he might be able to use it to make something and obtaining a trump card for use in crucial moments. Perhaps it could even save his own life.

There was a lot of sulfur in the Weaponsmiths Quarter and the place wasn’t lacking in charcoal either, but the exception was saltpeter.

This was a bizarre world; the vast majority of the things found here were difficult to explain in the name of science and logic, so Yan Liqiang honestly had no clue either whether he could actually create gunpowder. But this thought and the gunpowder formula had always been on his mind. If he didn’t even give it a try, it would be something he would always regret.

If his adversary was only Hong Tao of the Hong Clan, even if Hong Tao had learnt Iron Palm, the current Yan Liqiang was confident that he could still beat the crap out of Hong Tao. However, Yan Liqiang understood that if the Hong Clan truly wanted to prevent him from advancing as a Martial Warrior then the Hong Clan’s plan m was in no way simply Hong Tao himself...

During the martial arts preliminary exam, the Hong Clan had made use of ice ants and even had the resources to bribe his own friend. That clearly proved that for the sake of dealing with him and for the sake of protecting their clan’s position and their interest in Liuhe Town, they were ready to resort to any means necessary.

Even though he had passed the Horse Stance stage, it did nothing to relieve him from the threat that was the Hong Clan. A man who had just passed the Horse Stance stage wasn’t enough for the Hong Clan to hold him in any regard at all. In the nearing Martial Arts County Trial that would be hosted half a month later, he was beginning to dread that this crisis was already imminent. Since the Hong Clan had already made the first move, they definitely wouldn’t allow him to survive until next year...

This was the basic conclusion that Yan Liqiang had towards his predicament with the Hong Clan.

Yan Liqiang strolled along the county town of Huanglong County alone. After asking two people for directions, it only took him a little more than an hour to arrive at the county town’s Chaoyang Alley and located the ice shop within.

The name of this ice shop was Chaoyang Ice Shop and it was located in the middle of the alley. Yan Liqiang saw the signboard outside of the ice shop as soon as he walked to the mouth of the alleyway. At the sight of the signboard, he made his way there.

In his past life, Yan Liqiang had once thought that the popsicles that people ate during the summertime were an enjoyment of the modern generation that only came around after the invention of freezers. This had been how he’d thought of it until he watched a cultural relic auction on the television show. Amongst all of the relics they had shown, there was an ancient chest that was used to store ice. When he heard the introduction made by the host, it was only then that he realized that the Ancient Chinese had been enjoying cold drinks and popsicles in the summer since the Tang Dynasty. This instantly made him realize just how uncultured he was.

The ancient people didn’t make ice with a modern freezer. They used saltpeter instead. When saltpeter melts in water, it quickly absorbs the heat in water and freezes. The people of the past used this property of the saltpeter to manufacture ice cubes. They filled up two basins – one big and one small – with water and placed the smaller basin in the bigger one. Then they’d pour the saltpeter in the big basin. By the time the water in the bigger basin had frozen, the contents of the smaller basin would be frozen too.

Things were also the same in this world, only the rich could enjoy the luxury of ice in the summer. Therefore, ice shops only existed in economically prospering county towns or big cities. It goes without saying that some of the wealthy clans, like the Hong Clan in Liuhe Town, had an ice room in their residence for making ice cubes. Yan Liqiang thought back to his younger days. Whenever the hottest period of the year arrived, Hong Tao, who was older than him by two years, would come to school every afternoon with a popsicle in his hand. The popsicle had crystal sugar added to it, which made it all the more impressive, leaving a strong impression on his mind. That impressiveness remained fresh in his memories until today because it was as if a wealthy man had driven a Rolls-Royce to the countryside.

It was summer right now and a little past two o’clock in the afternoon. The cicadas on a few of the old trees in the alley were chirping. The sun glared down over his head, scorching the piping hot ground. A few children were hanging around outside the ice shop, they were hungrily trying to catch a glimpse inside of the shop. The shop assistant of the ice shop, who was dressed in blue, stood at the entrance of the ice shop and was shooing the little children away, just like a scarecrow that drove sparrows away from the rice paddy field. “Shoo shoo shoo, don’t block the entrance. If you want to eat some ice, go ask for money from your daddy...”

As the shop assistant was shooing away the little children, Yan Liqiang entered the ice shop.

The moment he entered the ice shop, Yan Liqiang could feel the temperature drop by a few degrees. The temperature inside was noticeably lower. A cooling wave swept over him and it felt extremely pleasant.

There was a counter in the shop and behind it were a few freezers, wooden blocks that were coated with a layer of tin on the inside.

A man was standing behind the counter. After sizing up Yan Liqiang, he decided that for his age he should be different from those little brats who came here to scam for food and drinks, a smile broke across his face. “Are you here to buy ice, sir? We serve all kinds of ice here, pure ice, ice with crystal sugar or bayberry juice added, we have them all at affordable prices. Which one would you like?”

When Yan Liqiang heard that there was ice with bayberry juice added, he realized that he was salivating all of a sudden. It was a pity, but he knew that the ice that these ice shops sold was at least the size of a basin. A basin worth of ice was enough to supply for a family. Only great clans were willing to make those popsicles that Hong Tao ate in the past for themselves. These small shops would never make small ice blocks that were the size of popsicles because the manufacturing cost was too high. Ordinary children wouldn’t be able to afford them at all.

Yan Liqiang tried his best to put on a pure, innocent smile on his face before speaking to that shop assistant. “Ahem. Do you sell saltpeter here?”

“Come again?” The shop assistant had an astonished look on his face.

“I’m talking about saltpeter, the thing used to make ice. I’d like to buy some!”

“We sell ice here, not saltpeter!” The smile on the shop assistant’s face faded. If it wasn’t for the smile on Yan Liqiang’s face, he would probably have been chased out of the shop right now.

“I know. I just want to buy some. Is that possible?”

The shop assistant firmly shook his head. “We don’t sell saltpeter here. Why don’t you go try somewhere else? Besides, the shopkeeper isn’t here and I’m not in the position to make any decisions...”

“Do you know where I can buy saltpeter?”

“I don’t know either!”

While they were talking, another customer came in. The shop assistant immediately ignored Yan Liqiang and went off to attend to the customer that had just arrived.

Seeing the look on the shop assistant face, Yan Liqiang knew that this negotiation was probably not going to work out. He rubbed his nose and walked out of the shop.

...

Yan Liqiang wandered around in the county town of Huanglong County for the next few hours. He hadn’t expected that buying some saltpeter would turn out to be so difficult.

He visited all three ice shops, but none of them were willing to sell him any saltpeter. What drove Yan Liqiang a little crazy was that saltpeter had an extremely limited amount of use, so in the entire county town, besides the ice shops, he didn’t know where else he could get saltpeter.

Fortunately, Yan Liqiang had strong communication skills. Although he couldn’t buy any saltpeter from the ice shops, he managed to find out a bit of useful information. He learned from a shop assistant working at one of the ice shops that a trading store that purchased fur had supplies of saltpeter. It was located a the major trading town, Shiqiao Town, which was right outside of the county town.

Yan Liqiang racked his brain and recalled that aside from making ice, saltpeter could also be used to tan leather. Since that trading store in the Shiqiao Town accepted leather, they probably supplied raw materials for leather tanning, like lime or saltpeter.

...

By the time Yan Liqiang exited from the trading store in Shiqiao Town, it was late in the evening and the sun was about to set.

The saltpeter in the trading store was sold to customers wholesale. Those clients usually bought tens or hundreds of jin every time. When he went into the store asking for a jin of saltpeter, he was nearly chased away by the staff as they thought he was fooling around. In the end, only when Yan Liqiang fished out some silver, did the shop assistant skeptically sell a little to him. However, since the price of two maces of silver was considered to be a ‘sky-high price’ for saltpeter, he only bought one jin.

Walking out of the trading store, Yan Liqiang touched the few taels of saltpeter in front of his chest and let out a long sigh. This time, he had only bought a little bit just to see if he could create gunpowder. If he could, he’d naturally find a way to get his hands on more saltpeter in the future.

He raised his head to look at the sky. It was getting late. It wouldn’t be good if he returned to the Weaponsmiths Quarter too late and made Qian Su worry.

With that in mind, Yan Liqiang made his way towards the public square that was not too far away in the heart of the town.

Shiqiao Town was indeed a major trading town. Amongst the visitors, there were particularly many customers and merchants that were coming and going. The public square in the heart of the town was surrounded by stores and inns and there were also street stalls set up along the public square, selling some herbs and other miscellaneous items. There were also carriage renting services provided.

Yan Liqiang had just walked to the public square and was about to flag for a carriage when he saw four rhinodrake steeds charging into the public square mountain like the wind along with their horsemen. One of the horsemen leaped off the back of his steed while another one instantly retrieved a gong from his saddle and stuck it rapidly.

In his past life, if one wanted their posts to be noticed or shared on online forums, then they’d only have to sticky their posts or request for internet celebrities to reshare it. However, there was no internet and there were no forums in this world. Although he heard that there were newspapers in the big towns, Yan Liqiang had never seen any. Other than the authorities who could post up various announcements, if one wanted to make any public announcements, hitting the gong would be the quickest way to attract attention in a crowded place.

Sure enough, the four horsemen who rode to the public square on their rhinodrake steeds managed to gather a large crowd of people from around the public square within just the blink of an eye.

Since it was happening around him, Yan Liqiang squeezed himself into the middle of the crowd to be a part of the bustling scene, curious to see just what those two wanted to do.

Among the four horsemen, one was a little older in age while the other three were quite young. Judging from the attire that the older man was wearing, he seemed to be a steward from some great clan while the other three seemed to be guards of some sort.

At this very moment, regardless of the older steward or the three younger guards, they were all drenched in sweat and had panic-stricken looks on their faces. The three younger guards seemed slightly better than the older steward, who was panting with a pale face.

“Isn’t that person the steward of the Lu Clan? What is he doing?”

A merchant at a street stall beside Yan Liqiang asked the person beside him in curiosity and Yan Liqiang just so happened to hear his question.

The Lu Clan. Yan Liqiang had vaguely heard of them before he came to Huanglong County. Huanglong County had a great clan that went on for a few hundred of years and that was the Lu Clan. But Yan Liqiang had no idea if this Lu Clan that the people around him were speaking of was the same Lu Clan. After all, there were plenty of great clans with the surname Lu in Huanglong County.

Seeing more than a hundred people had gathered around in an instant, that steward took a few deep breaths and calmed himself down. He raised his hand and the guard that was hitting the gong abruptly stopped.

Steward Lu cupped his fist in the other hand towards his surroundings and scanned around before speaking up loudly. “My fellow folks and friends, I am the steward, Lu Wenbin, from the Lu Residence on Mount Lianhua. Some of you may know me. I’ve come here today to seek help for an emergency. Does anyone of you have any secret techniques that are capable of saving a drowned person? A child in the manor on Mount Lianhua drowned earlier today, so I have especially come to seek help!”

Steward Lu scanned through the crowd with hope in his eyes, but everyone was completely silent. No one was able to make heads or tails of this whole thing and Yan Liqiang was also puzzled in his heart. It was simply too strange for them to actually come here to seek help when someone had drowned in the Lu Clan.

“Steward Lu, if a child had drowned in the Lu Residence, you should quickly look for a physician. For a clan that is as rich and powerful as the Lu Clan, they can easily find any physicians. So why is it that you have come here?” Someone among the crowd finally asked aloud the question that was on everyone’s mind.

Steward Lu went silent for a few seconds before speaking in a sharp tone. “We have done that. The best physicians from Huanglong County and Pingxi Town are all currently staying in the Lu Residence. It’s been somewhere from six to eight hours since the child drowned and the few physicians couldn’t do anything to save him. We have only come to seek help from everyone since we are running out of options, hoping to find any secret techniques that we can try. If we manage to rescue that child, you will definitely be well rewarded by the Lu Clan. If the child cannot be rescued, the Lu Clan will not blame anyone either...”

Everyone around instantly understood the situation upon hearing the explanation. The Lu Clan had hired the best physicians in the Huanglong County and the capital city, but they couldn’t save the child. According to Steward Lu, six to eight hours had passed so this meant the child that drowned had already stopped breathing for six to eight hours. There are only twenty-four hours in a day. Six to eight hours would mean that more than a quarter of the day had passed and the child was already long gone. If even the best physicians that the Lu Clan could afford to hire couldn’t do anything, who else could?

The art of reviving the dead was nothing more than a legend. The child had drowned and so much time had passed since. How could he possibly be saved? He reckoned that the Lu Clan sent their steward out to try their luck in finding even the smallest of chances, as a last resort since they had run out of hope and couldn’t find any other way.

When the surrounding people heard this, they immediately shook their head and dispersed. Although whatever great reward that Lu Clan could possibly offer might be drool-worthy, no one was capable of bringing the dead back to life. Even if they went there to try, it would just be a waste of time and they might even get into trouble for fooling around without any ability.

The people who had walked away were discussing in soft voices. They were all wondering which child from the Lu Clan had drowned for there to be such a panic among the Lu Clan.

Looking at the crowd that was dispersing, a look of despair and disappointment appeared in Steward Lu’s eyes as he lowered his head helplessly...

At this moment, Yan Liqiang muttered to himself then went directly in front of Steward Lu. “Steward Lu, perhaps I can give it a try...”

Steward Lu instantly lifted his head upon hearing Yan Liqiang’s voice. The moment he saw that it was a plainly dressed youth fourteen to fifteen years old standing before him, he froze with a shocked expression on his face...

...

“Young’un, this is not a joke! A person’s life is at stake...” cried the steward from the Lu Clan as he swept his gaze behind Yan Liqiang and across his surroundings. “Whose disciple are you? Do you have a master or an elder accompanying you?”

At such a moment, when everyone seemed helpless in the face of a crisis, a plainly dressed youth of fourteen had suddenly jumped out of nowhere saying that he was capable of rescuing and that he would try. This prompted two thoughts to suddenly emerge from the Lu Clan’s steward’s mind; this young lad was either joking or he was perhaps a disciple of some expert. But after Steward Lu surveyed the vicinity, he confirmed that Yan Liqiang seemed to be alone.

“Does one’s age or sect have anything to do with saving people?” asked Yan Liqiang smilingly.

“This...” Steward Lu was hesitant as he eyed the youthful-looking Yan Liqiang. The fourteen-year-old Yan Liqiang had bright and clear eyes, with a very thin layer of stubble growing by the edge of his mouth. The clothes he was dressed in was that of a commoner and didn’t appear luxurious in the slightest. He didn’t look at all like the disciple of some expert. And to top it all off, Yan Liqiang’s accent seemed like it was from the nearby county state. Never in his life did Steward Lu ever hear of a boy of fourteen or fifteen originating from the nearby county state with the capability of saving people. If there was truly a youth with the ability to do just that, then such a young lad would already have made a name for himself. Every year when summer comes around, where would you find a place where there aren’t children drowning?

Judging by the expression on Steward Lu’s face, Yan Liqiang knew exactly what was going on inside his mind. Initially, he had volunteered out of good intention, wanting to try whether there was even the slightest chance that he could help out since a life was at stake. Even if he failed, he was still young and wasn’t famous to begin with, so he wasn’t worried about what he had to lose. If he did in fact succeed, then he would have done a great service to mankind. However, if the Lu Clan didn’t believe him, there was no need for him to keep forcing himself. He would treat it as it was not meant to be since he had no relations with the Lu Clan anyway.

“Nevermind then. If Steward Lu doesn’t trust me, then let’s just leave it to Heaven’s will...” Yan Liqiang shook his head and said nothing more. He immediately proceeded to call a horse cart in order to return to the Weaponsmiths Quarter.

Perhaps it was due to the calm and unperturbed demeanor that Yan Liqiang had, that made Steward Lu realize that there was something distinguished about the fourteen-year-old youth, that made him different from the common folks. It was either that or maybe he was seriously out of better options, so he could only try it out as a desperate last resort.

Steward Lu instantly pursued after him, calling for Yan Liqiang to stop. “Little brother, please wait!”

Halting in his tracks, Yan Liqiang turned to stare at Steward Lu.

“Little brother, is that the truth? Do you really have a way to save him?”

“I have a way to save him, but I, myself, can’t guarantee whether or not I’ll be successful in saving him. We can only see if the Heavens will bestow an opportunity for him to live.”

Gnashing his teeth, Steward Lu stamped on the ground. “Fine! Follow me! We’ll head to the Lu Residence immediately!”

After he finished, Steward Lu immediately ordered two of the three bodyguards he had brought along to remain and see if there was anyone who was still willing to come and ‘apply’. He then ordered the other bodyguard to ride on the same rhinodrake steed together with Yan Liqiang and head back with him. When he came here, he had prepared a dual saddle and placed it on one of the rhinodrake steeds, which allowed room for two people to sit.

“Steward Lu. I don’t need anyone to bring me. I know how to ride a rhinodrake steed!”

“You know how to ride a rhinodrake steed?” Steward Lu shot a surprised glance at Yan Liqiang. It should be known that there was a difference in riding a rhinodrake steed and an ordinary horse. Normally, those who lacked the experience of riding a rhinodrake steed would have difficulty in controlling one. Moreover, since a rhinodrake steed wasn’t something that was easily afforded by commoners, a young man at this age from an ordinary household might know how to ride a horse, but it was very rare to find one who knew how to ride a rhinodrake steed. This was due to there being a very scarce number of common households with the capability to raise rhinodrake steeds.

Yan Liqiang nodded.

Pointing to one of the other three rhinodrake steeds, Steward Lu said, “Then you shall ride this rhinodrake steed and return with me!” Then he proceeded to order the three bodyguards, “All three of you are to remain here!”

The three guards nodded in response.

Steward Lu immediately pulled his own rhinodrake steed over. He mounted the steed before directing a gaze at Yan Liqiang. “Let’s get a move on!”

Yan Liqiang smiled. He stood before the rhinodrake steed, grabbing onto its reins. He supported himself by holding onto the saddle while also stepping on the stirrup with one foot. He turned his body around lightly and sat on top of it. His actions were clear-cut and done without the slightest hesitation.

On seeing that Yan Liqiang looked to be adept at mounting the rhinodrake steed, Steward Lu shook the reins of his own steed, prompting it to break into a small gallop out of the plaza with Yan Liqiang following a short distance behind.

This particular rhinodrake steed was gentle and didn’t pose a problem to ride. It didn’t feel more difficult than riding the one he had at home.

The two rhinodrake steeds were initially running at a slow pace. However, after departing the crowded area and streets, they crossed the stone bridge over Shiqiao Town. It was then that Steward Lu gave a shout and shook the reins. This caused the rhinodrake steed he was riding to instantly increase its speed. As it charged ahead, the sounds of its hooves were akin to crashing thunder. Yan Liqiang smiled and gave his own steed a quick squeeze, causing it to also break into a run. The two rhinodrake steeds ran neck and neck, rushing towards the Lu Residence.

Even though it had broken into a run, the steadiness and snugness riding on the broad back of the rhinodrake steed was far superior to that of an ordinary horse. Yan Liqiang felt that if he were to compare an ordinary horse and the rhinodrake steed, then it would be the same as comparing an old Santana versus a Mercedes Benz.

After passing the Horse Stance stage, Yan Liqiang found it to be smoother and easier for him to ride the rhinodrake steed. He effortlessly sat on top of the thick and broad saddle, squeezing the steed’s back with his thighs while leaving his feet hanging. He had completely become one with the steed. His upper body was as steady as the mountains and was completely capable of riding this rhinodrake steed without the need to use his hands.

Steward Lu was quietly studying Yan Liqiang. When he discovered that Yan Liqiang did not require the use of his hands to handle the rhinodrake steed and that he was holding the reins short and hanging close to his legs, Steward Lu’s mouth was agape from the shock. This was completely not the level of skill that a youth like Yan Liqiang should have at his age. Even if it were the guards from the Lu Residence, not many of them had such skills in horsemanship, much less someone like Steward Lu himself.

A number of thoughts were rolling about Steward Lu’s mind. He suddenly began to have more confidence in Yan Liqiang.

He had already attained such a profound level of horsemanship at such a young age. This clearly proved that there must be something extraordinary about this young lad’s origin and education. Such a person probably wouldn’t trick him with any regard to the severity of the situation.

“May I know what I should be addressing this little brother as?” Riding on top of the steed, Steward Lu’s tone turned more courteous as he inquired about Yan Liqiang’s circumstances.

“I’m called Yan Liqiang!” Yan Liqiang smiled, glancing at Steward Lu. “Quarter Master Qian of the Huanglong Weaponsmiths Quarter is my uncle!”

“Ah! Quarter Master Qian is your uncle?” Steward Lu’s eyes blinked, as a look of revelation appeared on his face.

“Why? Does Steward Lu also know my uncle?”

“Haha! In the entirety of the Huanglong County, who doesn’t know Quarter Master Qian? Moreover, Quarter Master Qian is also a frequent customer of our inn below our Lu Residence. Last time, during my clan’s old master’s birthday, Quarter Master Qian even came to offer his congratulations!”

“Oh. Then that’s great. I came out earlier today and should be heading back to the Weaponsmiths Quarter right about now. To prevent Uncle Qian from getting worried about me, I would like to request for Steward Lu to arrange for a person to inform my uncle at the Quarter.”

“No problem, that is easy to do! When we reach the Lu Residence, I’ll be sure to send someone to the Weaponsmiths Quarter and inform Quarter Master Qian, so that he won’t worry!”

...

A rhinodrake steed running at full speed was extremely fast, it was completely similar to being as fast as lightning. The sound that the eight iron hooves made when it ran was akin to thunder and was essentially far more effective than the sirens on top of a police car. Along the road, people and carts they encountered would all veer to the side upon hearing the sound of the thunderous hooves, despite being hundreds of meters apart, they would still open up a pathway for them to pass by.

Just like that, not even twenty minutes had passed after Yan Liqiang had followed Steward Lu and within that time frame, they had already arrived at the Lu Residence on their rhinodrake steeds.

The Lu Residence, as the name implied, was the manor of the Lu Clan. The entirety of the Lu Residence was larger than Liuhe Town. Liuhe Town had many households living within it, but the entirety of the Lu Residence were just assets of the Lu Clan alone, this included the surrounding lands of many thousands of mu, a greater distance than the eye can see.

The exterior of the Lu Residence was surrounded by a defensive wall of more than seven meters in height. It was all built by laying dark red sandstones on top of each other. It looked extremely firm while also appearing extremely aged. On top of the wall were arrow battlements and towers, as well as guards standing alert. Outside of the defensive wall, there was a river that protected the wall, the river was about dozens of meters wide and was both for protecting the wall as well as irrigating the cultivated land around the residence. It could be said that this was killing two birds with one stone.

Although Yan Liqiang hadn’t been a rich man in his previous life, he had seen his share of wealthy men. Those wealthy men were wholly the same; playing with delicate models, cars, watches, as well as purchasing mansions, private planes, and yachts. He’d seen them all.

Yet, when comparing the rich and powerful people in his previous life with the Lu Clan before him, Yan Liqiang realized that the rich and powerful men that he had been accustomed to in his previous life were utterly nothing before the Lu Residence, which looked like a castle. Before the Lu Residence, they were similar to duckweeds.

While Yan Liqiang gaped in shock at the Lu Residence before him, he was only overwhelmed with one feeling–b*llshit!

How many generations in a clan had to work hard and settle in order to achieve wealth on such a scale? This Lu Residence, unless if someone wanted to raise a military banner and start a coup d’etat, who else could shake them? In his previous life, Yan Liqiang knew about this billionaire who had married a female celebrity. In the end, he was extorted and scammed by a hoodlum in a fitness club, ultimately leading to his bankruptcy and his family ruined. For this Lu Residence, what kind of hoodlums would dare to extort them?

In most cases, the time that it took for one’s riches to settle in was possibly more valuable than the sheer amount of wealth that they’ve accumulated!

...

Steward Lu directly brought Yan Liqiang on their rhinodrake steeds, through the wide-opened main gate into the Lu Residence without stopping, even for the briefest of moments. Finally, they arrived at the main gate of a grand manor located in the center of the Lu Residence.

At the doorway of the grand manor stood two lines of guards and beside the gates, were two awe-inspiring guardian lions which were nearly two meters high.

The pair dismounted their rhinodrake steeds and right away a servant beside them quickly took the reins of the rhinodrake steeds and led them away.

Steward Lu called out to Yan Liqiang, before hurriedly entering the gate with Yan Liqiang in tow.

There were numerous courtyards; one after another inside the grand manor of the Lu Residence. But today, after entering the Lu Residence, Yan Liqiang felt the obviously depressed atmosphere of the entire Lu Clan, without the least bit of clamor. All of the servants and guards inside of the grand manor appeared to be trembling, not one of them had even the trace of a smile on their face...

After bringing Yan Liqiang to one of the side halls in the numerous courtyards and having him wait there, Steward Lu hastily walked out. He had even forgotten to order the servants to serve Yan Liqiang a cup of tea.

Yan Liqiang knew that Steward Lu was reporting to his superior. He guessed that Steward Lu wasn’t able to make a decision on such a matter; he was only responsible for bringing him back. Even if he could give it a try, it would still be up to someone of higher authority. However, Yan Liqiang believed that the Lu Clan were already out of ideas at this point. Otherwise, they wouldn’t even allow the manor’s steward to ‘try his luck’ outside. This was similar to the desperate people in his past life who would ask for help in online forums.

Yan Liqiang wasn’t anxious either. He sat quietly in the side hall, pretending to admire the few calligraphy paintings that were hung in the side hall. In a discrete manner, Yan Liqiang compared the commodities which he had saw along his way after entering the Lu Clan’s manor with Liuhe Town’s Hong Clan’s manor.

Hong Clan and Lu Clan were on completely different levels. The Hong Clan was only a dominant clan within Liuhe Town whereas the Lu Clan was a massive tyrant even within Huanglong County.

Yan Liqiang hadn’t need to wait for long in the side hall. Barely two minutes had passed before he heard the footsteps of two individuals coming from outside the side hall and at the same time, the faint voice of Steward Lu. From Steward Lu’s voice, Yan Liqiang was able to discern a few words such as ‘Quarter Master Qian’ as well as ‘great horsemanship’ and the likes.

Prior to practicing the Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing Manual, Yan Liqiang hadn’t possessed such a sharp sense of hearing. However, after he had practiced the Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing Manual, Yan Liqiang had realized that his five senses had improved substantially. Because of this, Yan Liqiang was able to detect the footsteps outside of the side hall as well as listen in on the conversation of the two individuals from a distance.

The sound of the footsteps grew closer. Soon after, Steward Lu entered the room in the company of another person.

The person who had entered along with Steward Lu seemed to be roughly sixty years old. His head was covered in white hair and the clothes he wore were very exquisite. He looked slightly aged but still held a very sharp gaze; his body exuded an astute and powerful aura. Before this person, Steward Lu appeared to be more prudent.

“Brother Yan, this is Head Steward Lu of the Lu Clan. He’s responsible in all matters within the manor. I have told Head Steward Lu about your situation and I have also just sent someone to the Weaponsmiths Quarters to inform Quarter Master Qian. You can be at ease...”

“Greeting, Head Steward Lu!” Yan Liqiang nodded as he politely greeted him. However, Yan Liqiang had also noticed that Head Steward Lu slightly frowned upon seeing him. After all, his age and the manner in which he dressed were drastically different to other highly skilled physicians.

Head Steward Lu’s sharp gaze pierced through Yan Liqiang like a sword. His gaze lingered for fully ten seconds and not a single word was spoken. The pressure was enormous. Head Steward’s expression only softened when he realized that Yan Liqiang’s expression remained unchanged as he looked calm under his sharp stare.

“I’ve never heard that that Quarter Master Qian had any medical skills. Furthermore, there are no medical experts within the Weaponsmiths Quarter. I wonder where you learned your medical skills from?” Head Steward Lu opened his mouth and slowly asked.

Yan Liqiang laughed, “I’ve never learned any medical skills!”

Head Steward Lu frowned once again before glancing at Steward Lu who stood at the side, “So, how are you able to save someone?”

Yan Liqiang unfolded his arms and began to utter nonsense with a deadpan face, “I had a strange dream a couple of days ago. In my dream, I accidentally entered deep into mountains wreathed in mist and met an old man who possessed completely white hair as well as a completely white beard. The old man conversed with me for a short period of time before abruptly telling me of a way to save a drowning victim. Even after I awoke, I still remember it. Today, I coincidentally ran into Steward Lu upon my arrival at Shiqiao Town and thus, I had followed him here!”

“So, are you confident in saving this person?” Head Steward Lu frowned even deeper before he continued asking.

“I’m not confident!”

“Not even a little?”

“Not even a little!”

Head Steward Lu stood up abruptly and took a deep glance at Yan Liqiang. He nodded before saying, “Come with me!”

Steward Lu–the person who had brought Yan Liqiang here–sighed in relief as he witnessed the manner in which Yan Liqiang presented himself in.

Yan Liqiang smiled. He knew that there was a high possibility of being kicked out by Head Steward Lu if he answered Head Steward Lu’s questions by saying that he had confidence.. By admitting that he had no confidence, he had instead earned Head Steward Lu’s trust. This was also based on his experiences in his previous life. Being honest before those who were experienced in life was oftentimes better as they had seen enough of the so-called smart asses.

Under Head Steward Lu’s direction, Yan Liqiang left the side hall and passed through the lengthy corridor as well as the courtyard door before finally arriving before a house.

A portion of the few Lu Clan’s bodyguards stood outside of the house. Under the eyes of the Lu Clan’s bodyguards, Yan Liqiang followed Head Steward Lu into the house.

A number of people were already within the house. Amongst them was a slightly pale but plump old man with three strands of beautiful long beard. He sat upright on the host’s seat within the house. Adjacent to the old man was middle-aged man who wore a brocade robe and seemed to be roughly thirty years old middle aged man. The old man looked mournful whereas the middle aged man was on the verge of tears.

On the chairs to the left of the room’s entrance were a group of people who ranged from forty to sixty years old. In comparison to the old man and the middle-aged man, every single one of them wore an awkward and helpless expression. Medicine chests could be seen before the group of people. Due to this, Yan Liqiang knew that they were the physicians invited by the Lu Clan. He had heard that the Lu Clan had invited the best physicians from Huanglong County and Pingxi Prefecture and presumed that they were this group of people.

The sound of a weeping woman’s heartbroken cry as well as the wailing of many women could also clearly be heard from the room which was connected via a door at the side.

A glum atmosphere hung within the room.

As soon as Head Steward Lu brought Yan Liqiang into the room, the gazes of those present immediately focused on Yan Liqiang. Every single one of them were somewhat stunned. Amongst the physicians, two of them gazed at Yan Liqiang with disdain after the brief period in which they were slightly stunned.

Head Steward Lu walked towards the old man, bent down, and softly uttered a few words to him.

That old man fixed his gazed onto Yan Liqiang for two brief seconds before waving his hand in disappointment, “Fine! Let him give it a try. We’ll do everything we can and leave the rest to fate. If it still doesn’t work, then... then let the servants arrange the rest.....”

Head Steward Lu nodded and walked over. He gave Yan Liqiang a signal before bringing Yan Liqiang to the adjacent room.

After passing through a door and the side room beyond that door, Yan Liqiang arrived before a room with two maids as well as two bodyguards guarding the room along with Head Steward Lu.

Although it was a bedroom, it only possessed a small number of items.. It looked vacant. Only a bed could be seen with a child who seemed to be six to seven years old lying on it; his complexion was pale. His face was already completely drained of colors.

Yan Liqiang gazed at the child lying on the bed before giving Head Steward Lu a single glance. Head Steward Lu nodded and Yan Liqiang walked over in order to carefully examine the child.

The child that lay on top of the bed wore a loose white night robe. His hair was untied and slightly resembled the middle-aged man who was standing outside with red eyes just now.

Yan Liqiang began by touching the child’s forehead. It was ice cold and no longer had the body temperature of a normal person. He then examined the child’s breath, pulse, as well as heartbeat. As expected, all these vital signs were already long gone from the body of this child.

“How long has it been since the child was first in this state...?” Yan Liqiang asked Head Steward Lu.

“Before lunch hour up until now, roughly six hours!” Head Steward Lu sighed. “This morning, he was playing hide and seek outside with the other children from the residence. Whilst hiding within the reeds by the river bank, he accidentally slipped and fell into the water. His leg was trapped by the water plants and because of this, he drowned. At first, the kids couldn’t find him and thought that he had ran to other places. It was only during lunch time that we realized that he had been missing so everyone went out to find him, only to discover him in the water behind the reeds. He’s been like this ever since we lifted him out of the water. We’ve thought of many methods in the manor. We’ve tried lifting him by his feet, chest compressions, and also mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Other than releasing a small portion of water from his mouth, there were no signs of improvement. Although the physicians we had invited had tried all sorts of methods, nothing had worked...”

Yan Liqiang knew that if it weren’t for the fact that the child had been drowned for more than six hours, there would be no way that a great clan such as the Lu Clan would turn to outsiders.

As for the chest compressions as well as the mouth-to-mouth resuscitation that Head Steward Lu mentioned, it was known as cardiopulmonary resuscitation and artificial respiration in his previous world. There existed many martial practitioners in this world. In comparison to ordinary people, martial practitioners were much more knowledgeable on human body’s physical form and functions. Many killing techniques were also converse methods that saved people’s life. Hence, it wasn’t unexpected for Earth’s life saving procedures to appear here.

“May I ask, who is this child to the Lu Clan?”

“This child is Old Master Lu’s eldest grandson. Prior to this child’s birth, Old Master Lu only had a few granddaughters!” Head Steward Lu glanced at Yan Liqiang. He thought that Yan Liqiang was worried about the expenses and uttered in a deep voice, “If you have a way to save him, just do it. Don’t worry about the costs. Our Lu Clan will be able to afford it. Even if you want a 100-Years Ling Shen, our Lu Clan will be able to take it out as long as you save him!”

No wonder why! It turned out that this child was the Lu Clan’s eldest grandson!

Yan Liqiang had finally understood the reason as to why Lu Clan was so anxious.

“Then, I’ll have to request that Head Steward Lu will help me prepare a few items!”

“What do you need?”

Yan Liqiang took a glance at that child who was lying on the bed, “Head Steward Lu, please help me prepare a few moxa sticks!”

“Moxa sticks?” Head Steward Lu gazed at Yan Liqiang in astonishment. Head Steward Lu wouldn’t be surprised even if Yan Liqiang were to request for rare items during this situation. However, the words ‘moxa sticks’ had surprised him. This was due to the fact that this item was an extremely cheap and common item. Mugwort plants could be found all over the place, and Moxa sticks were made by wrapping up the moxa floss made out of Mugwort plants in a bundle. They could be made by anyone.

“Do you need anything other than the moxa sticks? Is there a need for assistants?” Head Steward Lu asked.

“No need. Moxa sticks and a candle to light them up will do. The temperature in this room is a slightly low. Add a few more basins of charcoal!”

After gazing deeply at Yan Liqiang, Head Steward Lu quickly exited the room. In less than two minutes, a few servants came in carrying a few more basins of charcoal and placed them at the corners of the room whilst maintaining the air ventilation in the room. At the same time, Head Steward Lu returned with the items that Yan Liqiang had requested. Entering alongside with Head Steward Ly was the middle-aged man as well as the physicians whom he had just seen outside...

After hearing that Yan Liqiang’s tool for saving this child’s life was a simple moxa stick, the few physicians that had just been outside followed the others into the room.

A few hours ago, they had failed in reviving this child, despite having gone through all of the possible methods they had at their disposal. This child was obviously dead and had been dead for a few hours. They simply couldn’t believe in the possibility of reviving a child that had already drowned for over so many hours. Furthermore, they could not believe that it would only take the most common and most ordinary of items, a moxa stick, to achieve this.

If a mere moxa stick could revive a drowned person, then it must have been done by God.

In their hearts, none of them believed that Yan Liqiang could revive a dead person. The only reason why they came in was to see just what kind of trick was Yan Liqiang going to pull with a moxa stick and then expose him right on the spot.

Yan Liqiang very clearly understood the intentions of those physicians for coming in. However, he didn’t want his mood to be affected by the sideline chatter while he was administering the therapy later.

There was nothing he could do but continue with his pretension.

“Steward Lu, when I treat this child, only this child’s next of kin is allowed to remain in this room to observe. The rest of them are not allowed to be in here!” Yan Liqiang was blunt when speaking to Steward Lu.

The purpose of allowing the child’s next of kin to observe was so that he could have a witness with him as his insurance. This was so that even if he was unable to revive this child in the end, at the very least, the Lu Clan would know that he had made a very serious attempt in saving the child. It would also prove that he hadn’t been taking the Lu Clan as a fool or even defiled the body of this child. Yan Liqiang had carefully thought this through.

Upon hearing Yan Liqiang’s request, all of the physicians in the room were escorted out by Steward Lu before they even got the chance to protest.

The moxa sticks and a candle had already been placed before Yan Liqiang. The father of the child, the man whose eyes were currently red, stood by Yan Liqiang’s side as he opened his eyes wide to watch how Yan Liqiang was going to save his son.

“Brother Yan, please do all that you can to save him. Even if you are unable to, the Lu Clan will not place any blame on you either...” The man told Yan Liqiang with a slightly hoarse and deep voice.

“A human life is beyond value. Although I can’t promise anything, I will definitely try my best!” Yan Liqiang sincerely assured this man. This was his honest thought without any misgivings. Under such circumstances, he was absolutely willing to try even if it was other ordinary people instead of the Lu Clan. If he won the gamble, he’d win back a human life. Even if he lost, no one would point a finger at a fourteen-year-old youth in this situation. Besides, he didn’t really have any reputation so there really was nothing for him to worry about at all.

The father of the child nodded his head and didn’t say anything else, so Yan Liqiang got started.

He picked up the moxa stick that Steward Lu had brought for him and proceeded to examine it. He could instantly tell that this moxa stick was definitely made with the best moxa floss, because in the short time it was placed in front of him, even without looking at it the fragrance had already naturally permeated the air.

But of course, since mugwort plants were everywhere, even the best moxa stick wouldn’t be worth much.

Firstly, Yan Liqiang held the moxa stick over the candle to light it up. He waited until one end of the moxa stick was completely red like an incense stick before placing it on the tray at the side. Then he got up and unbuttoned the clothes that the child was wearing.

When the child’s father saw Yan Liqiang’s actions, some emotions flickered in his eyes but he remained silent and just silently watched.

The body of the child was already cold and slightly stiff. However, his belly was flat and without a bulge. He’d surmised that the water inside must have been completely pushed out by someone from the Lu Clan.

Yan Liqiang kneaded the child’s belly gently with a solemn face as he started to pray silently within his heart – Miracle Doctor Sun, Perfected Master Sun, your disciple, Yan Liqiang, will try saving a life right now by using the secret technique that you passed down. Please bestow your blessings upon me. If this method works, your disciple will not be selfish and will definitely impart this knowledge to more people so that the victims of drowning in this world will have a greater chance of survival while also reducing some tragedies for countless families out there.

After ending the prayer in his heart, Yan Liqiang retrieved the red glowing moxa stick with one hand and moved it to the belly button of that child. He pointed the lit end of that moxa stick at the child’s belly button, leaving the distance of only a few centimeters between them. He tested out the temperature of the moxa stick with his hand. After determining a distance that wouldn’t burn the skin, he began using the moxa stick on the child’s belly button.

This was Yan Liqiang’s method of saving him. But of course, this method wasn’t something that Yan Liqiang had conjured out of nowhere. It was a method that was left behind by the Perfected Master Sun, Sun Simiao. He was the most famous miracle physician in Ancient China, otherwise known as the Medicine King, who had lived to be 142 years old.

It was one of the fascinating methods that was left behind in one of his encyclopedic works in medicine, the ‘Essential Formulas for Emergencies Worth a Thousand Pieces of Gold’. This fascinating method was performed in order to save a drowned person. One of the quotes from his book read: ‘Rescuing the drowned: Open the dead person’s clothes and perform moxibustion on their navel. This is only applicable to patients that have drowned for less than a day.’

In his book, the Perfected Master Sun had mentioned that this method could even revive those that had drowned for an entire night. So Yan Liqiang had come to give it a try.

Yan Liqiang knew of this method because he had read it in one of the articles that he had been following closely from time to time in his previous life. He thought he wouldn’t be able to remember it, but after he reincarnated, ever since he recalled the Performing Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing Internal Cultivation Manual, he realized that his brain seemed to have a boosted amount of memory storage. He was actually able to remember all of the books and articles he had read before in his previous life, including ones where he only had a single glance. These books and articles were all stored in his brain. As long as he had the intention, he’d be able to completely recall the entire thing.

The navel of a person’s body was one of the most important acupoints. This acupoint is known as Shenque (Spirit Gateway) but also Mingdi (Life Stem), Shenzhe (Deity), Yuanshen (Primordial Spirit), Xiantian (Innate), Quezhe (Guardian of the Tower), Chenglou (City Gate Tower) Gaolou (High Tower) Gongdian (Palace), Ming (Life Form), Shenming (Existence), Xingming (Life), Dizhe (Stem), Dijie (End) and Bing – which meant a handle. As the names implied, this acupoint was a towering palace that housed a person’s primordial spirit. It also held the authority over a person’s life as well as their existence.

Mugwort leaves were amongst the most ordinary of herbs yet it contained pure yang. ‘Capable of restoring vitality, clearing the twelve meridians, regulating through the Three Yin Intersection, managing qi and blood in a body and preventing pathogenic colds...’

...

In his mind, every single word within the article that he had read before flashed across his mind. While holding onto the moxa stick, Yan Liqiang’s hand was like a pair of pliers that had been fixed in place. He was staring at the moxa stick and the child’s belly button with a fully focused expression on his face, making him appear to be extremely divine and serious.

From time to time, Yan Liqiang’s other hand would move for a bit. He did this was so that the ashes that had fallen off the moxa stick wouldn’t land on the body of the child. Yan Liqiang used his free hand to catch the ashes and quickly disposed of it on the tray at the side at the same time.

Sometimes when he was shaking out the ashes, the burning red embers of moxa floss would also fall off altogether, burning his hand as if he had just been splashed by hot oil. However, Yan Liqiang persevered in continuing to catch it with his hand, only frowning a little before disposing of the ashes into the tray beside him.

If he were to move the tray over and move the moxa stick away, he would be momentarily interrupting the moxibustion process, as doing so would move the moxa stick away from the belly button of the child. Hence, Yan Liqiang would rather catch the ashes with his hand, parting his fingers would allow the heat of the moxa stick to continue dissipating from the gaps between his fingers while the ashes would be caught by his hand.

While trying his best to keep the ashes away from the body of the child, Yan Liqiang was also closely monitoring the temperature of the skin around the child’s belly button. He did so by putting a finger on the area around his belly button from time to time to feel the temperature of the skin around that area. He didn’t want the moxa stick to damage and leave burns on the child. He knew that it was already extremely painful for a parent to witness the death of their child. Regardless, no parent would like the idea of seeing the body of their late child being tossed around and damaged by others.

These were all the smallest details that were probably ignored by most people. But to Yan Liqiang, his experience from his previous life had taught him that small details like these mustn’t be neglected. These were the elements that differentiated success from the devil.

As long as he had paid attention to all these small details, the Lu Clan wouldn’t think that he was a cheat even if he were to fail in reviving this child.

The father of that child was watching Yan Liqiang’s actions closely at first, but when he had ultimately seen Yan Liqiang trying his best and earnestly doing his job, the expression on his face gradually softened, letting out a sigh in the end.

When the ashes of the moxa stick were about to fall off, a hand reached out just before Yan Liqiang could reach out his. “Let me do that...” A hoarse, deep voice said beside his ear.

Before the old moxa stick could even finish burning, Yan Liqiang had already lit up another new one.

...

As time slowly passed, the entire room was filled with the scent of the burning moxa stick. Within the span of about two hours, Yan Liqiang had already used up two moxa sticks, and the sky outside was now completely dark.

He was on the third moxa stick, and half of it had already burnt away.

The fire holder that had been lit in the room kept the room temperature suitably comfortable.

Just when Yan Liqiang thought that this method might not be able to save the child, his finger that was touching the child’s belly button could suddenly feel the intestines beneath convulse for a moment...

Before Yan Liqiang could even react...

“Cough...” The child that had been lying down suddenly coughed, then turning his head to the side, he vomited a mouthful of water.

The child slowly opened his eyes. As soon as he opened his eyes, he was greeted by a visage of his father with reddened eyes that looked at him with an elated expression that he had never seen before on his face.

“WAA...” The child instantly started crying loudly.

Yan Liqiang placed the half-burned moxa stick onto the tray beside him. He then stood at one side and blankly stared at the child who was now crying loudly after he had just woken up. A voice in his heart was crazily shouting, ‘I’VE DONE IT, I’VE DONE IT! HE’S BEEN REVIVED, HE’S BEEN REVIVED...!’

...

Not only that child was crying, even Yan Liqiang had the sudden impulse to shed his tears at this very moment.

Thank you, Perfected Master Sun, Grandpa Sun, thank you WeChat, thank you Boss Ma, thank you Boss Zhang. Thank you to everyone for spreading their positive energy...

...

The cries of that child exploded in the room like a sudden clap of thunder and instantly traveled outside...

In just the blink of an eye, Yan Liqiang could sense the door outside was violently pushed open, followed by a countless number of footsteps flooding in. The old man that he had just seen, followed by a few madames, as well as a few other men that he had never seen before barged into the room.

“Lin’er...” One of the madames around thirty years of age came in. Upon seeing the child having gotten up, she exclaimed in pleasant surprise and instantly rushed over, embracing the child into her arms, as she buried her face into him and sobbed loudly.

Seeing this scene, a few girls on the side started weeping tears of joy. Old Master Lu, who was already advanced in age, was also so worked up that his face had turned very red, and even his hands were slightly trembling. “So the dead can come back to life, Good, good, good.... This must be a blessing from the Heavens to my Lu Clan...”

As they spoke, everyone in the room suddenly shifted their gaze over. Each and every person within the room was staring at Yan Liqiang’s face.

Yan Liqiang was foolishly laughing under the gaze of everyone within the room. At this very moment, Yan Liqiang wasn’t even thinking about how he would be rewarded by the Lu Clan. His heart was only filled with pure excitement and joy. As a person who had been given two chances to live, he didn’t expect that he himself would be able to bring the dead back to life.

As long as one was using the right method, it was possible for them to trade in a few cheap moxa sticks for a person’s life. Sure enough, a precious thing such as life wasn’t necessarily expensive.

“Little Seventh, bring Young Master Yan to the Peony Hall and have him take a seat there. Serve him well, I will join him in a moment...” Old Master Lu spoke up.

The person that Old Master Lu had been addressing as ‘Little Seventh’ was Head Steward Lu. Of the entire Lu Clan, only Old Master Lu was able to address Head Steward Lu as ‘Little Seventh’. Amongst the others of the Lu Clan would address to him as ‘Seventh Uncle’ or ‘Seventh Master’.

“Understood, Old Master!” Head Steward Lu nodded, then walked to Yan Liqiang’s side and spoke politely. “Young Master Yan, it’s a bit chaotic here, so please follow me to the Peony Hall to take a short break!”

“Please lead the way, Head Steward Lu!” Yan Liqiang nodded. He had stopped looking around and was already following Head Steward out of the room.

The few physicians that the Lu Clan had invited were all found standing outside by the door, waiting for Yan Liqiang to make a fool out of himself. When they saw Yan Liqiang coming out of the room, all of them looked at his expression as though they were looking at a living three-headed alien with six limbs descending from a flying saucer.

They instantly crowded around him almost all at once. They bore a resemblance to paparazzi seeing a celebrity as they tried to outdo each other rushing towards the front.

Before any of them could say anything, Head Steward Lu spoke up first. “Everyone, Young Master Yan is a bit exhausted and wishes to rest. If you have something to ask, please wait until it is more convenient for Young Master Yan!”

Yan Liqiang didn’t say anything. He simply smiled at the few physicians before leaving with Head Steward Lu.

The Lu Clan had witnessed the secret technique in action, saving a life, but they probably would not spread that information around due to it being a taboo. If the Lu Clan were to sell him out after he had saved their eldest grandchild, then the Lu Clan would have tarnished their own reputation throughout Huanglong County, or possibly even in the entire Pingxi Prefecture. In short, this wouldn’t bring any benefits for the Lu Clan. Even so, there was no need for the Lu Clan to do something as foolish as this, as they had no reason to do so. For the Lu Clan, the most that they would possibly do was if the same thing were to happen again, they would use the method themselves, instead of hiring someone else.

So this secret technique was still a special technique that those few alone would know for now.

Yan Liqiang had the intention of spreading the knowledge of this method too. It would be even better if everyone were to know of this so that more drowning victims could be saved. However, he didn’t want it to be done this way. If this came from someone else’s mouth, the physicians would just think to themselves ‘Oh, so it was this easy? Why did I not think of this before?’ Thus, not realizing just how impressive Yan Liqiang was or how valuable this secret technique was and taking it for granted instead. Yan Liqiang had really been one lucky bastard. Had there been any nasty people amongst them, then they would have sabotaged him out of jealousy after learning the secret technique, and possibly gone around destroying his reputation.

This was Yan Liqiang’s conclusion based on the experiences he had accumulated throughout his past life. Being a great person not only required one to work hard but also one to work smart. Sometimes, you have to pretend when it is time to do so. If you don’t, it might turn out badly instead. Most people were suckers when it came to this.

...

Yan Liqiang only walked for less than a minute with Head Steward Lu’s leading before arriving at Peony Hall of the Lu Residence.

This Peony Hall should be the place where the Lu Clan would receive their important guests. It was a secluded area, with a garden built right outside filled with peonies. All the furnishings in that room were extravagant and refined.

The moment that Yan Liqiang walked into the Peony Hall, his stomach growled. The growling noises were so loud that they sounded just like a toad croaking, and even Head Steward Lu who was just beside him could hear it.

Head Steward Lu apologized. “Please forgive us for being such inconsiderate hosts today! Take a seat here, Young Master Yan, I will arrange for dinner to be prepared for you at once!”

Yan Liqiang only smiled and nodded, but didn’t decline because he was indeed hungry. He had spent the day walking around the county town of Huanglong County and was worn out. His initial thought was to return to the Weaponsmiths Quarter for dinner, but he hadn’t expected to have gotten involved in this incident. Two or three hours had passed by just like that. He didn’t even feel any fatigue when he was busy rescuing the child just now, but now that he could relax, he was so hungry that it felt as though his front was sticking to his back [1].

Head Steward Lu left Peony Hall to arrange for Yan Liqiang’s dinner, then returned the very next moment. He stayed in the Peony Hall to keep Yan Liqiang company and chatted with him, as it was proper etiquette.

Head Steward Lu was someone who became wiser as he aged. He chatted with Yan Liqiang and praised him greatly. The topic of their conversation eventually shifted to Yan Liqiang.

Yan Liqiang didn’t try to hide anything either because he couldn’t do it at all. So, he went with the flow and told Head Steward Lu all the things that he could say about his situation back at home.

These weren’t the kind of things that could be hidden and there was nothing for him to hide anyway. That was because his hometown was in Qinghe County, which was just adjacent to Huanglong County. If the Lu Clan really wanted to learn about him, they could easily send a Steward out there to gather information on him and they would find out everything there was to learn about him.

As two of them were talking, within a short while, Yan Liqiang’s dinner had arrived.

Although it was called a dinner, it was more like a feast.

A few bulky-looking Lu Clan servants moved in a huge round table and placed it in the middle of Peony Hall. Following suit, maids that were dressed up like beautiful butterflies served up a variety of appetizing dishes. In just the blink of an eye, the table in front of Yan Liqiang was filled with fragrant dishes. There were more than twenty dishes and their aroma permeated throughout the room. There were also a few bottles of decades-old aged fine wine.

With the exception of two dishes, Yan Liqiang had not been able to identify any of the others on the table Of those two dishes, one of them was a thick bear paw.

A steamed bear paw wasn’t a dish that could be prepared under such short notice as it required the better half of day to prepare. For the Lu Clan to have been able to serve this up at such speed, it was evident that this was a dish that was frequently served within the Lu Clan’s kitchen. It was quite possible that they had a few bear paws steaming in the kitchen every day so they could request for it to be served whenever they wanted.

Yan Liqiang hadn’t even seen this kind of sumptuous high-end dish more than once in his past life, much less in this life.

This entire table was full of dishes that were truly too wasteful and extravagant for Yan Liqiang to enjoy alone.

“Young Master Yan, please enjoy your meal!” Head Steward Lu politely gestured to invite him to help himself to the food.

Yan Liqiang held the chopsticks that were made out of elephant tusk with silver patterns carved on them, not knowing why his tears were rolling down his face while looking at the table that was filled with dishes.

...

Head Steward Lu was slightly shocked. “Is Young Master Yan not satisfied with the dishes that have been served? If you aren’t happy with it, I will have someone serve you something else!”

“Oh no, that’s not it!” Yan Liqiang wiped his tears. “This is embarrassing, Head Steward Lu. I am only suddenly remembering my father back at home. He’s been forging every day to earn a living. For over more than ten years, he has been waking up early and going to bed late, scrimping and saving for the sake of allowing me to practice my martial arts. He is usually reluctant to eat any meat and only gave them all to me. I think he has probably never eaten a sumptuous meal like this in his entire life so I couldn’t help feeling emotional!”

Head Steward Lu didn’t laugh upon hearing this, rather he stared at Yan Liqiang deeply. Along with the tone of his voice, the gaze on Yan Liqiang instantly softened by a lot. “Young Master Yan, there’s no need to be so emotional. After today, Young Master Yan’s father will no longer need to bear such hardships!”

...

Yan Liqiang ate for about half an hour and was able to finish about half of the dishes served on the table all by himself.

Over the days he had spent cultivating the Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing Manual, especially after he had passed the Horse Stance stage, Yan Liqiang’s appetite had gradually grown bigger. Especially when faced with such a sumptuous meal, Yan Liqiang wouldn’t hold back in the least and immediately stuffed himself to the fullest.

Yan Liqiang only ate the food and didn’t drink any wine. After finishing his meal, the maid served him tea and fruits.

After he was done with the fruits and had a bit of the tea, only then were the dishes on the table cleared away.

But as soon as the dishes were cleared away, something else was carried in.

The servants of the Lu Clan brought forth two heavy chests in and placed them on the table. Head Steward Lu then proceeded to open the chests, revealing the two chests to be full of gold bars that shimmered and dazzled under the candlelight. They were so blinding that Yan Liqiang had to involuntarily squint his eyes.

As Yan Liqiang was estimating the amount of gold that was within the chests, Old Master Lu entered from outside with a smile.

...

Yan Liqiang stood up and paid his respects to the Old Master of the Lu Clan. “Greetings, Old Master Lu!”

“Young Master Yan, please! Sit down, sit down. There’s no need to be so polite. Hahaha!” Old Master Lu was in a jovial mood. After courteously ushering Yan Liqiang to take a seat, only then did he take his place on the master seat next to Yan Liqiang. “Had it not been for Young Master Yan’s technique in reversing today’s desperate situation, my beloved grandson would have been separated from me in death. To see one’s child pass on before they do, I can’t even imagine how many people in our clan would have their hearts broken. The Lu Clan will forever remember the kindness that Young Master Yan has bestowed upon us. As for the one thousand taels of gold, it is but a small token of our gratitude. I hope Young Master Yan will not decline!”

“Thank you, Old Master Lu!”

“You’re welcome. Don’t mention it. I should be the one to thank you instead. How could the life of a Lu Clan member ever be compared to these insignificant pieces of gold? Hahahaha...”

In that moment, Yan Liqiang did not put on any pretense. His own father was still living a frugal life back home as a blacksmith, if he were to act noble and virtuous now when faced with the riches placed before him, allowing his father to continue to eating salted vegetables, how was he any better than a dog or a pig? What kind of reputation would a person have if they were willing to abandon even their own parents?

Despite this, the fact remained that the one thousand taels of gold rewarded by the Lu Clan was indeed a large sum. Regardless of whether it was in his previous life or his current lifetime, this was a sum of money that Yan Liqiang had never possessed. The money he required in order to improve the conditions of his home for the better was certainly not to this extent. Moreover, he had formed ties with the Lu Clan, who now owed him a favor. How could such a relationship ever be compared to mere pieces of gold? There was a good saying that said, ‘Power must not be exhausted and blessings must not be enjoyed to the fullest. Otherwise, disaster will befall you once your strength is exhausted and you’ll be fated to succumb to isolation once your fortune is gone.’ These were all words of wisdom.

He had kept his head down and worked hard to painstakingly pulled the plow towards his chosen path. But now, it was time for him to look up ahead so he would not lose sight of his goal.

From Yan Liqiang’s point of view, the current Old Master Lu was no different from those super big customers he’d met in his previous life. He decided he had to maintain the relationship that he had forged with the Lu Clan, after all, there was nothing wrong in looking long term.

“Old Master Lu, honestly speaking, although I did contribute something today, it was also due to the profound blessing of your grandchild and the Lu Clan. You’ve all been blessed by the Heavens, which is why a deity appeared in my dreams to impart the method for this treatment. I’m sure that the deity wanted to borrow my hands to do this deed. My own efforts were honestly too insignificant to be mentioned...”

As Yan Liqiang spoke, he carefully observed the expression on the Lu Clan’s Old Master Lu’s face. Sure enough, the results were just as he’d expected. Upon hearing what Yan Liqiang had to say, Old Master Lu’s face reddened all over, and his entire being appeared overwhelmed with happiness. He found Yan Liqiang’s words to be extremely pleasing to the ears and Yan Liqiang self to be even more pleasing to the eye.

“Young Master Yan is too humble! Too humble!” Old Master Lu stroked his beard and continued, “There are billions of people inhabiting this world. Why would the deity visit only Young Master’s dreams and his alone? This proves that Young Master Yan is also a man with a profound blessing, and has been brought to the Lu Clan by fate. Otherwise, our household steward wouldn’t have come across Young Master Yan by chance upon reaching Shiqiao Town. This is all through the will of Heaven!”

“Old Master Lu is right!” Yan Liqiang smiled while shaking his head. “But the amount of gold you’re presenting to me is too much, I’ll only accept half. If I were to lust for more then I’d be claiming credit for someone else’s achievement, I’d never be able to get a good night’s sleep!”

Upon hearing Yan Liqiang state that he only would accept half of the gold, it wasn’t only Old Master Lu who was stunned by the remark, even Head Steward Lu who was standing by his side was taken back. It’s important to note that in this world, common households could not earn even one hundred taels of gold in their entire lifetime. Yet in the face of such riches, Yan Liqiang, a young man at the age of fourteen, could actually calmly refuse half of the profits that he gained. And this half that he had refused was five hundred taels of gold...

“Young Master Yan, you said you only would accept half?” Old Master Lu looked strangely at Yan Liqiang. It was as though he wanted to confirm that Yan Liqiang was not saying nonsense.

“Half of it is indeed more than enough...” sighed Yan Liqiang. “When I saw the table full of delicacies during the meal just now, I thought back to my father who worked to forge iron at home, living a frugal life. I couldn’t help but tear up at the thought. With these five hundred taels of gold, I can now buy a hundred mu of land for my family at home. I can provide for my father so he can enjoy his life in retirement. My father can stop working himself to death at the workshop every day, He can live and enjoy life as it is. My household is small and my father and I rely on each other for survival, so we don’t spend much. Just these five hundred gold taels would be more than enough for us. If we have too much money, then I fear it will bring disaster instead of fortune!”

To be able to hear such words and to witness such a display of wisdom from a youth only fourteen years of age, this caused Old Master Lu to view Yan Liqiang in a different light. He stroked his beard and grunted, gradually nodding his head. “It’s rare to see a man like Young Master Yan possess such filial piety and insight. These gold taels were originally supposed to be a small token of gratitude from the Lu Clan to Young Master Yan. If it is as Young Master Yan says, that being in the possession of this small amount of gratitude would cause Young Master Yan to be targeted by evil-doers, then it would seem that I really did not think this through!”

“Thank you, Old Master Lu for understanding!” Yan Liqiang cupped his hands in salute before Old Master Lu.

Sometimes, wealth was no different from the goods stored in a ship. For an individual, having more money didn’t necessarily mean that things would be better. It was still important to look at the situations of each and every individual to determine whether or not they had the capability to cope. Some large ships had no issues with pulling anywhere from a couple of tons to a few kilotons of goods, or even thousands upon thousands of tons. Yet, for some smaller ships, when an item weighing a ton was placed on it, it would sink immediately. Thus, for the Lu Clan, perhaps one thousand gold taels didn’t account for much, however, for ordinary folks, it was a hefty sum, so those of ordinary status might not be able to cope with it.

Old Master Lu asked another question, “Young Master Yan, is it possible that you’re training in martial arts as well?”

Yan Liqiang nodded.

“Then has Young Master Yan ever heard of Headmaster Song Tianhao, from Dragon Flag Martial Arts Academy of Pingxi City?”

“It’s only natural that I’ve heard of him. Headmaster Song from Pingxi City’s Dragon Flag Martial Arts Academy; he’s a famous Martial Warrior as well as a great teacher from within the prefecture. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve been aware of Headmaster Song’s name in the Qinghe County. Rumor has it that Headmaster Song has a secret technique that allows for martial practitioners to pass the Horse Stance stage in just several painstaking years of training!”

Old Master Lu smiled, his eyes squinting as he gazed at Yan Liqiang. “Correct. Not bad, not bad! You’re pretty good. Headmaster Song has a secret technique known as the Essence Unifying Post stance. He also knows how to refine the Essence Nurturing Pill, a specialized pill. If a martial arts practitioner training in the Horse Stance practices Headmaster Song’s Essence Unifying Post stance and uses the Essence Nurturing Pill, with several years of hard work, they would be able to break through the Horse Stance stage. Upon passing this stage, the subsequent Stretching Tendon and Extending Bone stages wouldn’t be difficult to achieve. If they can endure the hard work and pass these two stages. if they also have the aptitude for it, then there is a chance they can establish their Dantian, and thus succeed in completing their foundation to become a Martial Warrior. In this specific instance, achieving future meteoric success will naturally be easy to accomplish. For many years now, my Lu Clan has maintained a friendship with Headmaster Song. We have a good relationship with one another and quite a number of our Lu Clan children have acknowledged Headmaster Song as their master. If Young Master Yan agrees, I am willing to help make arrangements and request that Headmaster Song accepts you as his disciple. He’ll pour his heart and soul into imparting the Essence Unifying Post stance to you. I can guarantee that he will supply you with the Essence Nurturing Pill as well. The Song Clan won’t dare to say anything else. But if Young Master Yan can bear the hardships, it won’t take more than a couple of years to pass the Horse Stance stage. Then there’ll be a chance that you’ll advance as a Martial Warrior in the future...”

Yan Liqiang knew this was just an excuse by the Lu Clan to express their gratitude. In order to acknowledge Song Tianhao as his master, he’d require a hundred gold taels at the very least. As for the Essence Nurturing Pill, this was also Yan Liqiang’s first time hearing of it. He reckoned that it wouldn’t be cheap as well.

“Thank you, Old Master Lu, for your concern! But I’ve already passed the Horse Stance stage, so there’s really no need to trouble Headmaster Song!”

“What?” This time, both Old Master Lu and Steward Lu were caught by surprise and even felt some shock from hearing his reply. For the average person, being able to pass the Horse Stance stage by the age of eighteen meant that they could be considered talented. On the other hand, Yan Liqiang was no more than fourteen or fifteen years of age, so how could he have passed the Horse Stance stage? It was too amazing.

From the moment Yan Liqiang had first arrived at the Lu Residence to the current point in time, the two of them were unable to discern whether Yan Liqiang had passed the Horse Stance stage. If what he said was true, then they needed to thoroughly reassess the young man before them.

Old Master Lu’s eyes lit up and shone. He sized Yan Liqiang up with a serious expression, and then suddenly reached out a hand towards the center of the small side table. “I’m honestly curious. Young Master Yan, would you care to have a test of strength with me?”

After passing the Horse Stance stage, the great tendons in an individual’s thighs would be like a dragon, where their force would be released from their feet. Their entire being would achieve a state of unity of the horse and waist. Even if the individual were to remain still, the force from the feet, waist, and back could be circulated to the hands. This would allow the hands to gain an immense and volatile power within a narrow range, thus giving rise to an explosive force. By suggesting a test of strength, Old Master Lu really meant to test the explosive force which Yan Liqiang had attained after passing the Horse Stance stage.

“Of course I would...” Yan Liqiang smiled; he had also extended his hand across the small side table, moving it closer to Old Master Lu’s palm. He stopped when the two hands were about two fingers apart, roughly an inch away from each other.

Both palms were very close to one another, close enough to feel the heat gradually being emitted from their opponent’s palms.

“Young Master Yan, please!”

Old Master Lu had to maintain his reputation, so naturally, he wouldn’t make the first move.

Since he had been invited to do so, Yan Liqiang did not hesitate. He exerted a quarter of his strength and immediately struck his palm towards Old Master Lu’s.

A dull thud emanated from the room. Old Master Lu did not budge an inch, causing Yan Liqiang to smile as he withdrew his palm.

“Good...good...good...” Old Master Lu was ecstatic. After withdrawing his palm, he kept repeating the word, ‘good’ continuously. “I never expected Young Master Yan would be able to pass the Horse Stance stage at such a young age. For decades, not many people in the entirety of Huanglong County were able to pass the stage at your age. Young Master Yan is truly a martial arts prodigy!”

“Old Master Lu is being too polite! I was just lucky. By the way, I would like to know if the physicians that the Lu Clan hired are still present in the manor?”

“Hahaha! Of course, those physicians are still in the manor. They have yet to leave and have been scratching their heads, each of them grumpy and burning with impatience to ask for the method Young Master Yan used to save our child. But Young Master Yan need not worry. Our Lu Clan will definitely guard your secret life-saving technique!”

As the saying goes, when you have the skills, you can eat your fill. If this technique to save drowned victims were to remain a secret, then Yan Liqiang could eat his fill anywhere in the world. He could earn a living with this alone. During the summer, of the people living in the villages and towns, how many of them would drown in the pools and rivers of Huanglong County every year? Moreover, other places were in the same boat as well.

“I’d like to request for Old Master Lu to call those physicians over for a while. I would like to have some words with them!”

Although Old Master Lu didn’t understand Yan Liqiang’s intention, he still cast a glance at Steward Lu, who immediately went to make the arrangements.

By the time the physicians had arrived at Peony Hall, by Steward Lu’s order, the servants had already put away the gold in the main hall.

When they were brought to Yan Liqiang again, every single one of those physicians was overcome with excitement.

But before the physicians could speak, Yan Liqiang said in a direct and straightforward manner, “I know what everyone wants to ask. After the drowned victim is rescued, you will still need to provide emergency treatment first. Make them vomit out the water, then perform chest compressions as well as mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. If these emergency treatments are incapable of providing any results, and the victims had drowned within a day, then there is still a chance to save them. The method to do so is actually quite simple. It is to perform moxibustion on the Shenque acupoint, which is the navel. I was imparted the knowledge for this method through a deity who came to me in my dreams. Now in the presence of Old Master Lu, I shall then impart this technique to the physicians here. I hope every one of you can use this technique to show benevolence, and perform more good deeds...”

Upon hearing Yan Liqiang directly explain the secret technique to save drowned people, some of the physicians were shocked by the revelation, while some of them fell into deep thought. Soon after, Yan Liqiang turned his gaze back towards Old Master Lu. “Old Master Lu, this method to save a person’s life wasn’t mine to begin with. The reason I had that dream was probably because the deity couldn’t bear to see the heartlessness of the rivers, and intended to borrow my hand to make this method well known so more people can be saved. There is no need for the Lu Clan to protect this secret for me. Do your best to pass on this method to the surrounding villages and let more people know the better!”

Old Master Lu was emotionally moved by Yan Liqiang’s decision. “Young Master Yan, please do not worry. Our Lu Clan has received such benevolence, we will definitely spread this method around so that it can benefit others...”

When Yan Liqiang left the Lu Residence, he sat in Old Master Lu’s personal luxurious horse carriage, a completely different way than how he had arrived at the Lu Residence earlier.

Head Steward Lu personally sent Yan Liqiang off, they were escorted by two guards from the Lu Clan on their rhinodrake steeds.

The sun had just set, before arriving at the Lu Residence. But now, as he was leaving the Lu Residence, the sky outside had already been decorated with countless stars.

They were sending him off in a horse carriage as a sign of courtesy and respect, but more so because Yan Liqiang was carrying the five hundred taels of gold that the Lu Clan had rewarded him. It would be inconvenient for him to have a rhinodrake steed carry the fully loaded chest.

He opened the chest and took out a shiny gold bar. It felt heavy and cold to the touch while giving off an indescribable sense of security in Yan Liqiang’s heart as he held it in his hands.

Regardless of his past or current life, this was Yan Liqiang’s first time possessing such a large amount of wealth. These shimmering gold things had caused so many people in this world to shed blood, lay down their lives, or even become a self-centered deranged person incapable of recognizing their own family and relatives.

The valuable gold bars on one side, with cheap moxa sticks on the other. It was a human life that had put an equal sign between a couple of moxa sticks and the chest that was filled with no less than five hundred taels of gold in front of him.

In this world, there were many times where things could be fantastic.

Who could truly determine whether or not valuables were truly valuable, or the cheap was truly cheap?

When he thought back to the Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing Manual that he had bought from the street stall, Yan Liqiang who was currently rubbing the gold bar in his hand sighed to himself.

The emotions and excitement that the gold bars had stirred up within Yan Liqiang lasted a lot shorter than he had expected, the horse carriage had only just exited the entrance of Lu Residence. Looking down at the gold bar in his hand again, Yan Liqiang had calmed down compared to before. He then grabbed a handful of gold bars from the chest, about five or six of them; without even counting, shoved them into the arms of Stewart Lu Wenbin, who was escorting him back and currently sitting across from him.

Aside from Yan Liqiang, Steward Lu was also very excited at this same moment.

The Lu Clan had sent out twelve stewards to all corners of Huanglong County in search for help. And he ended up being the one who had brought Yan Liqiang back, contrary to the other stewards who had returned empty-handed. He did not expect that Yan Liqiang, whom he had brought home, would manage to miraculously save the child in the end.

Although Head Steward Lu had yet to say a word, Steward Lu could already see that better days for him in the Lu Clan were right around the corner.

While still immersed in his own fantasy, Steward Lu suddenly felt something heavy being pushed into his arms. As he lowered his head to look, he discovered that Yan Liqiang had shoved a handful of gold bars into his arms, giving Steward Lu’s heart a sudden shock.

“Young Master Yan, I couldn’t possibly accept this...” Steward Lu lowered his voice and tried to return the gold bars to Yan Liqiang.

However, Yan Liqiang pressed Steward Lu’s hands back to him and spoke to him in an equally lowered voice, “Steward Lu, if it wasn’t for you for bringing me to the Lu Residence, I wouldn’t have been given this opportunity. In fact, I still owe you my gratitude. Therefore, these gold bars are also partly thanks to you, so we should share them. There’s no reason for you to refuse since you deserve it...”

“No, no. This is something Old Master has bestowed upon Young Master Yan...” Steward Lu shoved the gold bars back towards Yan Liqiang.

“The things that Old Master Lu had bestowed upon me are mine, so I can do whatever I want with them. You don’t have to worry, Steward Lu...” Yan Liqiang shoved the gold bars back to Steward Lu.

“W-Well...”

“If Steward Lu insists on refusing it, it would be bad if the people outside overheard us. Aren’t you supposed to be working dedicatedly in the Lu Residence for the sake of providing your family with a better life? Yet, here I am giving you something openly and honestly with sincerity as courtesy calls for reciprocity. And I’m not worried even if Old Master Hong were to find out about this, so what are you worrying about, Steward Lu?”

He wasn’t certain if it was his sincerity or his words that had moved Steward Lu. But regardless of which, Steward Lu looked at the shiny gold bars that were in his arms, then looked at the smile on Yan Liqiang’s face. In the end, he finally ceased his attempts to push away the gold bars and instead very gratefully smiled. He swallowed hard before stuffing the gold bars into the front of his clothes. “Then... Lu Wenbin thanks Young Master Yan for the gift...”

“You’re welcome. Ever since I was young, my father has taught me that great things are achieved through mass effort. Without the efforts of Steward Lu, I wouldn’t have received these rewards and Old Master Lu’s grandchild wouldn’t have been saved. This is the least I can do...” The smile on Yan Liqiang’s face grew more sincere and amiable.

Steward Lu secretly sighed in amazement. This fourteen-year-old youth was really great in his manners. It really didn’t seem like he was a youth but a seasoned mature adult. No wonder why Old Master had personally sent him off to the entrance of the manor. Only a distinguished, honored guest would have the privilege to receive such treatment in the Lu Residence. If the current Yan Liqiang was already a person of such caliber, he couldn’t imagine how he would be like in the future.

With their intention of making friends with each other clear, Yan Liqiang and Steward Lu chatted enthusiastically with each other and in just the blink of an eye, their friendship quickly deepened.

...

After Yan Liqiang’s departure from the Lu Residence in the horse carriage, Old Master Lu and Head Steward Lu once again returned to Peony Hall.

When both of them sat down, the maid served up some freshly brewed tea for them before obediently withdrawing from the room.

The two of them started to discuss the incident that happened today. After a few exchanges, Old Master Lu suddenly asked Head Steward Lu a question, “Little Seventh, what is your impression of that youth, Yan Liqiang?”

“This youth appears to be upright and honorable, he is definitely not a treacherous individual. In addition to that, the way he treats people is wise and earnest for his age and is very adaptable. Not only that but he has also passed the Horse Stance stage and possesses a strength that is beyond the measure of ordinary people. From this point alone, no youths aged fourteen to eighteen in the manor can be compared to him. In my opinion, it is unlikely for this boy to be just an average individual in the future, however...”

The hand that Old Master Lu was holding the teacup with jerked slightly. “What is it?”

“This boy claims that Liuhe Town within Qinghe County is his hometown and that he has been living with his father. However, from what I have seen today, if this boy has really been staying in his hometown over these years, he would have gained a great reputation there since long ago from the skills he had displayed to us today instead of being a nobody. Huanglong County and Qinghe County are neighbors and the Lu Clan has constantly kept an eye out for talented youths among their neighbors. Yet we have never heard of his name, so I find that a little odd!”

“You think that he is lying?”

“Or perhaps he is in some circumstances that we don’t know about!”

Old Master Lu swept the teacup’s cover over the teacup twice. “Well then, I suppose we’ll know once we send someone to ask around in Huanglong County tomorrow. Try to get more details about Yan Liqiang’s background. I’ll leave this to you, Little Seventh, I’d be worried if this was left in the hands of someone else!”

“Understood. Rest assured, Old Master, I will definitely see this to the end!” After finishing his sentence, Head Steward Lu lifted his head to look at Old Master Lu and asked, “Out of curiosity, why is Old Master so interested in this youth?”

Old Master Lu’s face broke into a smile. “What do you think about Yan Liqiang and Bei’er being together?”

“Ninth Lady...” An astonished look appeared on Head Steward Lu’s face. He was seemingly unprepared for Old Master Lu to suddenly jump so far ahead in his thoughts. The Ninth Lady, Bei’er, was the Old Master’s most beloved daughter whom he had sired at his late age. She was the one he had doted on the most. Head Steward Lu was stunned for a moment but soon recovered. “But Ninth Lady is already nineteen years old, whereas Yan Liqiang is only fourteen years old. This age gap is...”

“The year before the last, I had Grandma Steel Beak from the county town perform a divination on Bei’er’s marriage. Her response to me was that Bei’er, who is born in the year of Xin You [1] is matched to a man who is born in the year of Bing Chen [2], and that they would be a match made in heaven. A marriage of love will be the most auspicious match. Yan Liqiang is fourteen years old this year, and it just so happens that he is born in the year of Bing Chen so he will be most suitable for Bei’er. Putting aside his achievements in the future, he has a very generous and kind heart and isn’t someone who is fickle, ungrateful and treacherous. He will certainly be a good marriage candidate for Bei’er. Even if he can’t achieve much in the future, I can still be at ease because Bei’er definitely won’t be suffering if she is with him...” Speaking up to this point, Old Master Lu paused before he continued resolutely, “Even if Bei’er is a little older, I don’t see any issues with that since she is the daughter to the Lu Clan...”

Yan Liqiang had no idea, that apart from saving a life during his trip to the Lu Residence, he had also gained the ‘approval’ of Old Master Lu...

“Yan Liqiang told me that Qian Su is his uncle. I’ll find a time to have a good chat with Qian Su during his next visit to the Drunken Fragrance Inn...”

“Not you. It would be too obvious if you were to go. Let Peien go instead. He frequents the Drunken Fragrance Inn so it would be normal for him to run into Qian Su without appearing too deliberate...”

“Understood...”

...

By the time Yan Liqiang got off the Lu Clan’s lavish private carriage at the Weaponsmiths Quarter, he and Lu Wenbin had pretty much become great friends despite their age gap. From Lu Wenbin, Yan Liqiang had come to know more about the Lu Clan and had gained a whole new understanding of them. He was already made well aware of the important figures within the Lu Clan and the connections between them instead of being clueless as before and only relying on hearsay.

Yan Liqiang got off the carriage with the chest full of gold bars and Steward Lu also got off the carriage to bid Yan Liqiang farewell.

This two-wheeled horse carriage was fine if used for short journeys, however, one would start to feel uncomfortable as time went by. On such a bumpy road, regardless of how well decorated the carriage was or how many cushions were in it, it would still be uncomfortable to ride in. It was even worse than a bullock cart. Due to the slow speed of a bullock cart, the shakiness wasn’t that bad compared to a galloping horse carriage.

“Oh right, Steward Lu. Why doesn’t the Old Master get himself a four-wheeled carriage for outings? With the Lu Clan’s financial resources, he can surely get a four-wheeled carriage for himself with just a word. It will be really a lot more comfortable...” Yan Liqiang casually asked Steward Lu when they were bidding farewell to each other, since he had grown closer to him by now.

“Haha, where can you find a four-wheeled horse carriage...?” Steward Lu was laughing loudly as he shook his head. It was as though he had just heard something hilarious. “How is it possible for someone as bright as Young Master Yan to be confused about this kind of thing? If a horse carriage has four wheels, how would it be possible for it to turn?!”

“Turn? What’s so hard about it? Isn’t it just...” Yan Liqiang froze abruptly as he spoke because he understood why there were no four-wheeled horse carriages in this era. Among all the carriages that he had seen, their wheels were affixed to the frame. This made it easy for two affixed wheels to change direction, but very difficult to turn if there were four wheels.

He was so used to seeing four-wheeled vehicles in his past life that he had always thought of it as nothing out of the ordinary. Yet he didn’t expect that two-wheeled carriages with affixed wheels would be taken for granted in this world.

“Young Master Yan, do you have any other issues?” Steward Lu asked when he saw Yan Liqiang standing in a daze.

“Oh. No. Nothing else!” Yan Liqiang snapped out of his trace immediately. “Thank you for sending me off, Steward Lu. Please return safely!”

“Alright, I shall take my leave then!”

...

After Steward Lu and the guards from Lu Clan leave, Yan Liqiang shook his head and then self-deprecatingly laughed before making his way towards the entrance of the Weaponsmiths Quarter.

Upon taking a few steps, Yan Liqiang’s expression soon turned into a frown. All of a sudden, his heart swelled with an intense sensation, it made him feel like he was being secretly watched by someone.

The main entrance of the Weaponsmiths Quarter faced the main road. The sky had already darkened and the road was nearly deserted. On either side of the main road were patches of corn fields. The corn that filled the fields reached the height of a human. There was a hill not too far away that was surrounded by a eucalyptus forest. Due to the darkness, everything in the distance was hazy, rendering Yan Liqiang incapable of determining where the peeping gaze was coming from.

Regardless, the feeling of being secretly watched by someone was definitely an extremely uncomfortable one. Yan Liqiang felt as though he was being preyed on by a ferocious viper, one that was seemingly ready to pounce on him at a moment’s notice. It also seemed to be eager in trying to do so, which caused the hair at the back of Yan Liqiang’s neck to stand up.

The intensity of this abrupt sense of crisis made Yan Liqiang’s heart race. Even his palms were slightly sweaty and his throat a bit parched. But he didn’t look around, instead, he swallowed hard and continued to walk at a steady pace towards the entrance of Weaponsmiths Quarter that was about twenty meters away.

The soldiers who were guarding the Weaponsmiths Quarter greeted Yan Liqiang warmly upon seeing his return. Yan Liqiang also returned the gesture with a smile.

Yan Liqiang waited until he stepped into the main entrance of the Weaponsmiths Quarter, then proceeded to walk straight for a distance before stepping onto a path inside of the Weaponsmiths Quarter. It was only then that he could feel the restlessness that was just there moments before had now vanished as if it had been suddenly cut off...

After turning the corner, Yan Liqiang realized that his back had been completely drenched in cold sweat.

There was an air vent at this corner. The wind emitted from the vent chilled the cold sweat on his back, causing him to quiver involuntarily.

Although he didn’t appear uneasy from a distance away a moment ago, he was actually extremely nervous on the inside due to the fact that he could feel the ill and vengeful gaze on him. He wasn’t sure if the person who was hidden in the darkness would jump out unexpectedly and land a fatal blow on him, or shoot an arrow from the cornfield or Eucalyptus forest.

Had it been back then, Yan Liqiang certainly wouldn’t have been able to discover whether someone was spying on him, let alone sense the deep malice in their eyes. However, after practicing the Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing Manual, the restless feeling he had just now was exceptionally distinct. All of Yan Liqiang’s nerves tensed up from the stare and his consciousness was instinctively sending him warnings. Even Yan Liqiang himself didn’t even know how he had managed to calmly make his way over here.

Since an early age, he hardly had any enemies other than the Hong Clan. Although he used to have some conflicts with other children of a similar age in town, that was just their youthful spirit and it hardly meant anything. Perhaps he wasn’t really that likable, but he had never made any enemies either. At most, he lacked popularity. Hence, other than the Hong Clan, it was impossible that there would be anyone else that would chase after him from Qinghe County all the way to Huanglong County.

He knew that person hiding outside was not someone from the Hong Clan either as he knew that no one among the Hong Clan possessed a strong aura so strong that it could give him such a great sense of danger. Hence, the person hiding outside just now was a fighter... or perhaps an assassin hired by the Hong Clan....

There were many ways for a person to die. For assassins, they had a plethora of ways to covertly kill a person without making it seem as though it was homicide. Oftentimes, the government wouldn’t pay attention to the death of an average youth like him without any solid evidence.

His departure from Liuhe Town was no secret. A large number of people had witnessed him entering the boat at the dock of Qinghe County and exiting at the dock of Huanglong County. It wouldn’t be difficult for the Hong Clan if they had really intended to look for him.

However, Yan Liqiang didn’t expect that even though he had only left Liuhe Town for merely half a month, the people working for the Hong Clan had already chased after him all the way to this point.

This survival crisis had pressured Yan Liqiang to the extent that he felt slightly suffocated. He clenched his fist tightly in order to feel the strength within his fist before touching the packet of saltpeter in his arms. After feeling that his heart slightly calmed down, took a deep breath and continued walking towards Qian Su’s courtyard.

...

As Yan Liqiang had predicted, Qian Su had already been waiting for him in his courtyard in a seemingly displeased manner.

Qian Su dashed over as soon as Yan Liqiang walked in. He inspected Yan Liqiang from head to toe with a strange gaze before bluntly questioning him, “Lu Clan had their people coming over to inform me that you’ve visited the Lu Residence. Since when had your father formed ties with Lu Clan? Why didn’t you tell me? Before leaving the Weaponsmiths Quarter, why didn’t you inform me that you were going to the Lu Residence?”

Yan Liqiang knew that Lu Clan wouldn’t explain the situation in detail, thus causing Qian Su to misunderstand. Hence, he recounted the entire story of his encounter with the Lu Clan. Other than the part where he had gone to buy the saltpeter, he didn’t hide anything from him.

As expected, Qian Su’s displeased expression was immediately replaced with a dumbfounded one as he heard Yan Liqiang’s explanation. This was especially true upon hearing that Yan Liqiang had revived the child of Lu Clan who had left a number of physicians feeling helpless due to the fact that he had been drowned for six to seven hours. Amusingly, Qian Su’s face was a marvelous sight to behold. It was practically akin to the Sichuan opera’s unique Face Changing show; constantly displaying all sorts of different expressions.

“You aren’t lying to me, are you?”

Yan Liqiang immediately opened the chest in his hands right before Qian Su in order to show him the gold bars within. “This was given to me by Old Master Lu. A steward from Lu Clan had also personally escorted me here in Old Master Lu’s carriage just now. Do you think I’m lying to you, Uncle Qian?”

As he gazed at the gold in wide-eyed wonder, Qian Su was left so completely dumbfounded he lost his ability to speak. After a period of roughly ten seconds, Qian Su’s expression changed. Following this, he spoke to Yan Liqiang with an expression of pain and surprise, “Does performing moxibustion above the belly button really work?”

Yan Liqiang helplessly unfolded his arms, “I wasn’t sure either before I arrived at the Lu Residence. After all, there wasn’t a guaranteed success in saving a life even for an immortal. Luckily, it was a success this time around and someone’s life had been saved!”

“Had someone really informed you of this method in your dream?”

“Uncle Qian, I’ve practically never left Qinghe County my entire life. This method has also never appeared before. If this hadn’t come from my dream, how could I possibly have come up with such a thing just by racking my brains...?” Yan Liqiang sincerely looked at Qian Su. To him, the memories and experiences of his past life were just a dream. He reckoned that even if he were to claim that he had gained these experiences and knowledge from his dream, it wouldn’t be an issue even if he were to be inspected by the most advanced lie detector.

“That’s strange.....” Qian Su circled around Yan Liqiang twice before reluctantly accepting Yan Liqiang’s explanation. “By the way, why had you only accepted half of the one thousand taels of gold bars that the Lu Clan had given you?? The other half that you hadn’t accepted was an entire five hundred taels of gold bars!”

“Could it be that Uncle Qian believes that the favor that Lu Clan owes me is worth more than five hundred taels of gold?” Yan Liqiang questioned.

“I really don’t understand how Yan Dechang has a son like you!” Qian Su sighed and eventually stopped talking, “If you trust me, you can leave these gold bars here with me. I’ll keep them safe for you!”

Yan Liqiang smiled, “Why wouldn’t I trust you? Even if Uncle Qian hadn’t mentioned it, I was planning to hand these gold bars to you for safekeeping anyways. It’s not very convenient to keep them in my courtyard. If Uncle Qian requires it, you can go ahead and spend it. Treat it as a token of appreciation from me to you!”

Qian Su shook his head and forced a smile. He closed the chest and murmured to himself before saying to Yan Liqiang, “You’ve abruptly gotten yourself involved in this incident at the Lu Residence today. I reckon that you’ll be known by the entire Huanglong County in less than two days. If you don’t wish to encounter any more trouble, you should stay within the quarter in these few days. Don’t wander around outside as you please! Oh, by the way, I’ve ordered someone to deliver two quivers of arrows to you. You can spend the following few days practicing archery in the Weaponsmiths Quarter if you have nothing else to do. It would be fantastic if you could master it...”

“I’ll listen to Uncle Qian. I won’t go out for the following few days!” Yan Liqiang replied in an obedient manner.

“Good! You have done enough today as well. Go back and have a good rest!”

“Uncle Qian, have a good rest too!”

...

After explaining to Qian Su and leaving behind the chest of gold bars, Yan Liqiang left for his own courtyard with empty hands.

The Horned Python Bow was too big of a target. Even if the Horned Python Bow was priceless, no one would be able to take it away from his courtyard. However, it was a totally different case for the gold bars due to the fact that it could easily be taken. His experiences from his past life had taught him not to trust the human nature and not to demand everyone to be like Lei Feng [1]. He had recalled seeing statistics which had recorded the fact that more than twenty percent of murder cases occurred between acquaintances and friends.

Oftentimes, human nature wouldn’t be able to survive in the face of any tests. Humankind possessed a kind side, also known as their nature. However, it also possessed an ugly side, which was innate. They also possess a side that follows the flow, and this is called adaptation. The personalities of most people were a combination of these sides. The words and phrases that the old ancestors of China had created long ago had clearly illustrated the human nature. As Qian Su managed the Weaponsmiths Quarter, all financial transactions within the quarter would have to go through him. Thus, he had a secret compartment in his house, which was a safe box to store all these things. Hence, it would be the safest for Yan Liqiang to leave his money with Qian Su.

...

During the time when Yan Liqiang was not present, his courtyard had a small number of additions. Atop the pile of ashwood were three quivers of arrows which resided under the roof of the courtyard. Yan Liqiang saw them the moment he arrived.

Each quiver contained thirty-six arrows. Yan Liqiang glanced at it for a short period of time before bringing the three quivers upstairs and placed them next to the Horned Python Bow in his bedroom.

Yan Liqiang then retrieved the packet of saltpeter from his chest which he had bought earlier today and placed it in the adjacent room.

Yan Liqiang had been using research as an excuse in the past few days in order to obtain a large number of items, tools, as well as raw materials from each courtyard. Items such as iron ore, different types of wood paint, pieces of copper, horsetail, ox tendon, tie wire, silk paper, as well as lime could be seen in the adjacent room. Among these items were obviously sulfur and charcoal. These were the raw materials used in the Weaponsmiths Quarter.

Aside from these items, certain utensils such as mortar, graver, steelyard, file and so on could also be seen.

These items were obtained from various courtyards by Yan Liqiang as toys. The people from these courtyards didn’t take it seriously and believed that as Yan Liqiang was a teenager, he wanted to play around with them when he was bored. Thus, they also didn’t mind.

He opened the window of the room and allowed the moonlight to fill the room. The room was illuminated, to the extent where it was visible enough for him to do many things.

Yan Liqiang took a deep breath as he recalled the crisis he had just encountered at the entrance of the Weaponsmiths Quarter. Thus, he immediately began preparing the gunpowder the moment he entered the room.

He had already prepared the charcoal powder and sulfur powder a few days ago. Hence, the only item that was currently lacking was the saltpeter.

Yan Liqiang placed the purchased saltpeter into the mortar and ground it into a fine powder. He then poured it out, packed it, and then began to weigh it.

The ingredients of black gunpowder consisted of one part sulfur, two parts saltpeter, and three parts charcoal. The specific ratio was: two to fifteen to three. Following this, he began to mix them together. As long as there were raw materials, making gunpowder wouldn’t be harder than mixing a bowl of salad.

Yan Liqiang had managed to create half a jin of black gunpowder without much effort. Afterwards, he wrapped the black gunpowder into strings of wick with silk paper.

Due to the fact that he wasn’t allowed to light a fire in this courtyard, Yan Liqiang didn’t test it out in the courtyard. Furthermore, it was currently dark and the black gunpowder would cause a huge commotion if the experiment were to be successful. Hence, it would still be best to experiment it in the mountain the following day.

Yan Liqiang suppressed his excitement after the black gunpowder was produced and went to bed after practicing Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing...

He’d leave everything else until tomorrow...

The next morning, Yan Liqiang woke up early as usual. After having completed his morning training and practiced a repetition of the Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing Manual, he went to the dining hall area of the Weaponsmiths Quarter to have his breakfast, making way back to his residence shortly after. He carried the Horned Python Bow that Zhou Yong had gifted him and strapped on a quiver of arrows. In his arms, he carried the gunpowder, which he’d prepared beforehand, flint and steel to light up a fire, three packs of ground carbon powder, sulfur powder as well as saltpeter powder. He exited the courtyard soon afterward.

“Master Yan, are you leaving to practice your bowmanship?”

He had only managed to walk some distance before bumping into a squad of heavily armed soldiers on their way to the White Ash Forest. As the soldiers caught sight of Yan Liqiang, each and every single one of them smiled as they greeted him.

“Yeah. It would be a waste if I don’t put the fine bow that Big Brother Zhou gifted me yesterday to good use. I mustn’t disappoint Big Brother Zhou after all his goodwill...” laughed Yan Liqiang heartily. “Oh right, big brothers, are all of you going to patrol around the White Ash Forest today?”

“Quarter Master Qian ordered all of us to be on alert these few days and tighten the security as well as increase the frequency of our patrols around the quarter!”

Yan Liqiang was slightly taken aback, but realization soon dawned on him as he understood Qian Su’s intentions. The moment the news of what happened at the Lu Residence spread, then everyone would know that he was currently staying in the Weaponsmiths Quarter. Hence the reason for Qian Su’s request for the quarter’s soldiers to make their rounds more often was indirectly for his protection.

Yan Liqiang gnashed his teeth quietly as he recalled feeling the cold peering eyes hidden in the shadows last night when he returned to the quarter.

In his previous life, he had always assumed that working hard to earn money every day was the most stressful thing to do. But this was when he was living in a peaceful and quiet environment. Because of that, he had never been exposed to any life-threatening situations and had never experienced any form of imminent crisis before. Naturally, he was never aware of the fact that the peaceful and stable environment he was in before was hard earned. But after experiencing this world for a few days here in this life, the trepidation that struck him instantly made Yan Liqiang feel the immense pressure to survive. This had nothing to do with earning money; this time, it was his own life and safety that was threatened.

Yan Liqiang conversed with the squad of soldiers as they walked together. Only when they finally reached the White Ash Forest on the hillside located near the Weaponsmith Quarter, did they go their separate ways.

Yan Liqiang walked up the hill as the squad of soldiers patrolled around the exterior of the Weaponsmiths Quarter and White Ash Forest. Because if this place were to be under siege, invaders would come in through the walls at the base of the hillside. It was impossible for them to come down from the top of the hill due to the fact that crossing the Weaponsmiths Quarter was the only way to head up the hill.

Yan Liqiang surmised that the unknown individual who was spying on him from the shadows last night did not have the guts to barge into the Weaponsmiths Quarter to stir up trouble. It was important to note that the Weaponsmiths Quarter was an important location for military operations, a part of the country’s specialized law enforcement organization. Though the place may seem tranquil, however, if anything were to happen, it would be the cause of a huge ruckus. Forget about the Hong Clan’s hired hitman, even if it were violent and desperate criminals, none of them would dare to casually charge into this important location for the military as that was the same as having a death wish.

Therefore, as long as he remained in the Weaponsmiths Quarter, that unknown individual wouldn’t be able to do anything to him.

He was carrying the bow on his back and had the quiver of arrows slung over his shoulder as he went up through his usual path. It didn’t take Yan Liqiang long to arrive at the location near the hilltop, the place he used for daily practice.

The sun had risen not long ago and the life force in the mountain forest was flourishing. The environment looked as if it had just woken up from its slumber, there were birdsong and fragrant flowers all over the mountain forest.

Placing the bow and arrows he carried carefully against a boulder, Yan Liqiang meticulously surveyed his surroundings. Upon realizing that there wasn’t a single soul in the vicinity, only then did he feel reassured. After that, he moved around to the back of two boulders that were situated below the hillside. It was not far away from the empty land which he was in previously.

The back of the boulder was protected from the wind and could conceal him from view. There weren’t any plants on the ground in the vicinity, only stones. Even if his formulation of the gunpowder was successful, it wouldn’t start any fires. Regardless, water could be easily retrieved from the nearby brook. If smoke were to rise, it would instantly be blown away by the mountaintop wind, the people at the foot of the mountain would not see it.

Yan Liqiang crouched down behind the boulder and took out the fire rope that he had already prepared earlier on and the flint and steel. Then he began to test it.

Honestly speaking, if this was still the Earth of his previous life, Yan Liqiang wouldn’t have any worries regarding whether or not the gunpowder could be used after being formulated. However, Yan Liqiang was not confident deep down, due to there being too many things that his knowledge could not explain nor could he comprehend in this world.

Such cases included the Dharmic projection and phenomena that had occurred during his training, the emergence of the gigantic palm silhouette during Hong Tao’s performance of the Iron Palm, as well as the appearance of the illusory rhinodrake steed during his passing of the Horse Stance stage. Damn it! The martial arts and secret techniques of this world all carried the effects of illusory imagery that could resonate with the spiritual Qi and the energy of the Heaven and Earth. In addition to all that, the imagery that had appeared were incredibly strange and different in all aspects. They were even more exaggerated than the emerging imagery that was shown when the little universe from ‘Saint Seiya’ [1] had exploded. Who could actually use scientific logic to explain the theory behind this? And how could they explain to him the kinds of chemical transformations that had taken place during his martial arts training and cultivation of the energy of the Heaven and Earth?

The tool that he had used to start the fire was a flint and steel. For a person who was used to using a lighter, using a flint and steel to start a fire was too inconvenient, but he was already out of options. This was because in this world apart from using flint and steel; there existed another tool called a ‘match’ which was used for the same purpose. Making the match wasn’t cheap and was more time-consuming. Using it once would diminish their numbers by one, so usually, only rich households such as the Hong Clan or the Lu Clan would use it on a daily basis. Other than that, there was the fire lighting method commonly used by the military and the majority of the ordinary households, the relatively cheap and ever so convenient, portable flint and steel.

Yan Liqiang opened the waterproof leather cover of the embroidered pouch which contained the flint and steel and took out the flint and the tinder that it carried. Then holding the flint with his left hand, he pressed the tinder that was between the flint and his finger, while he grasping onto the embroidered pouch with his other hand. Striking the edge of the steel against the flint, he produced sparks from the flint with each strike. And after repetitively striking them together for a couple of more times, the produced sparks finally ignited the tinder and a flame was born.

After taking in a deep breath, Yan Liqiang placed one end of the completed fire rope into the flame.

The cotton paper of the exterior of the fire rope suddenly ignited...

It happened within the blink of an eye, barely even taking two seconds, the ignited fire rope burnt to the area where he set the gunpowder he created.

Yan Liqiang held his breath, his eyes widening...

There wasn’t any sound of gunpowder being ignited!

There weren’t any violent chemical reactions taking place!

Which meant it was impossible to create an explosion...

The cotton paper was still burning so the fire rope was as well. It was burning at a slow pace, similar to burning an incense, only that it was burning at a rate faster than the incense.

Smoke was coming out of the ignited fire rope and the fumes were full of the strong and concentrated smell of sulfur. This was precisely the same smell that sulfur would produce when set on fire.

Yan Liqiang was expectantly waiting for the explosive light, but what came to him in the end, was a smothered fart, instead.

It didn’t take long for the fire rope to burn until the end, leaving behind a pile of ashes. Among the ash pile, there were still traces of carbon powder and saltpeter powder which hadn’t been burnt completely.

Yan Liqiang was shocked. Could it be that this recipe was useless in this world?

He once again took out another fire rope to test again only to discover that the end result was the same.

Both the carbon and sulfur powder came from the Weaponsmiths Quarter so there shouldn’t be any issue with the raw materials. Also, when he bought the saltpeter, he had inspected it himself, so there shouldn’t be any fault there as well.

So if there were no issues with the raw materials and the recipe was correct, then was the item produced gunpowder or not?

Yan Liqiang was unwilling to give up just like that. He proceeded to take out the remaining three packets of unused carbon, sulfur and saltpeter powder from his clothes. He then began to carry out several different combination tests. After relentlessly testing over and over again for almost an entire morning, Yan Liqiang finally came to understand a certain truth more than four hours later. Although he didn’t understand why it turned out so, he was finally able to verify that in this world, it was indeed impossible to formulate gunpowder.

This wasn’t the only issue. According to Yan Liqiang’s knowledge, natural lodestone and magnetite practically couldn’t be found in this world.

Though compasses existed in this world, the magnetic needle of the compass found here was instead forged from a material called starry steel. Starry steel was basically a kind of iron from meteorites which fell from Heaven. There weren’t much in numbers so they were extremely costly. A small piece could only be found once in awhile. When compared with the worth of the starry steel, it was worth more than twenty times the price of gold.

What did this mean?

Without gunpowder, there wouldn’t be any hot weapons and firearms and cannons would never exist. Moreover, without a sufficient supply of natural lodestones and magnetite, that would mean that in the future, this world wouldn’t be able to harness generated electricity.

The ones to dictate this world would forever be martial power and cold weapons...

The recipe for gunpowder hadn’t done him any good; however, Yan Liqiang felt no disappointment and instead was able to quickly accept this as fact. On the contrary, he wasn’t certain as to why he felt as though a burden had been lifted from his heart. He was getting an even clearer picture of his path for the future.

Perhaps a world that was incapable of producing any hot weapons wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. As Yan Liqiang descended the mountain, he was secretly thinking to himself more about the matter. He believed that since this world didn’t have hot weapons and lacked the requirements necessary to produce and use electricity at the same time, this would mean that it would be impossible for atomic bombs, nuclear weapons, or strange things that could easily allow humans to destroy themselves to exist in the future. Of course, this also meant that there wouldn’t be so much pollution and diseases either...

The harder it was to kill a person, the lower the possibility of humans bringing destruction upon themselves as the cost of killing each other would be increased. But was that really such a bad thing?

From the perspective of productivity development, by the time the future development of this world reached its peak of productivity, it would at most still only be able to reach the first Industrial Revolution era back on Earth. During that era, steam and the invention of steam engine perhaps were the most powerful ability for the humans in this world to conquer the nature.

The working principle behind a steam engine was actually not that complex.

When Yan Liqiang thought of the steam engine, a 3D animation that explained the structural principle of a steam-powered engine that he had watched online in his past life automatically replayed from within his mind.

Yan Liqiang, while walking on the mountain path, shook his head.

He didn’t come into this world to become an artisan. In fact, artisans were not highly valued in this world. So even if he were to take out a blueprint of a steam engine right now, it wouldn’t be of much significance. It wouldn’t change anything because there wasn’t such a thing as having a patent on an invention in this world. If the steam engine was really useful, others would be able to copy it after buying one and it would no longer have anything to do with him. It was even likely that the wealth he would earn off the steam engine blueprint wouldn’t even be a tenth of the reward that he had received from the Lu Clan.

A hundred taels of gold was a huge fortune to any artisan. This was at least true for the few years that Yan Liqiang had lived, he had never heard of an instance where an artisan was rewarded with hundreds of taels of gold for the invention of their items. Even so, a few hundred taels of gold were still unable to resolve the problems that Yan Liqiang had to face and it was even more impossible for him to convert the Hong Clan from a foe to a friend.

Thus, if one wanted to live a good life in this kind of world that was forever bound to be governed by cold weapons, one would require the capability to defend themselves from being exploited by others. Most importantly, cultivation was still crucial as it ruled over everything!

When he reached the foot of the mountain, Yan Liqiang coincidentally ran into the same troop of soldiers that he had seen in the morning. It appeared that they were also preparing to return to the dining hall to eat.

“Hahaha, what a coincidence, my brothers...” Yan Liqiang smiled as he took the initiative to greet the troop of soldiers of his own accord.

“Ah, Master Yan. How goes your practice?”

Yan Liqiang intentionally rubbed his shoulder, feigning a miserable appearance. “This Horned Python Bow from Brother Zhou is really too powerful. I’ve only managed to draw it a few times. Seems like I’ll have to take it slow...”

“Hahaha, that’s a formidable bow of five piculs. It’s already a great achievement for Master Yan to be able to draw it right now...” The leader of that soldier who was speaking shot an envious glance towards the Horned Python Bow that Yan Liqiang was carrying on his back. “I believe that Master Yan would definitely be able to put this Horned Python Bow to good use in the future. Don’t you think so too, my brothers?”

“Yes!” The troop of soldiers laughed heartily.

“Thank you for the encouraging words, everyone. Come, let us go eat...”

“Hahaha...”

...

After lunch, Yan Liqiang returned to the mountain.

For the sake of validating the gunpowder formula, he had already wasted the entire morning. Since he was already clear on all he wanted to check on and was able to confirm everything he wanted to verify, Yan Liqiang was naturally able to get back on track with his cultivation as he practiced even more diligently than before.

Without further ado...

Under the scorching sun, Yan Liqiang started by strengthening his body by practicing a round of Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing.

In just less than two hours of practicing this technique, Yan Liqiang could feel as though his entire body had been cleansed by waves of energy as well as the Spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth again. After finishing, he felt relaxed and refreshed. The strangest thing was, apart from sweating Yan Liqiang didn’t even feel hot even though he had just finished practicing his technique under the blazing sun. Instead, he felt invigorated as though there was a breeze blowing beneath his arms.

It was about time to display his real technique...

After warming up with Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing, Yan Liqiang opened his bow bag to retrieve the Horned Python Bow and then started to practice his archery.

Archery was definitely the most formidable weapon during the cold weapon era as no other could compare against it.

In the past on Earth, there were the Mongolians, who had a population of only two or three million and a total army of less than a few hundred thousand. Yet they had swept across entire Eurasia with only iron hooves underneath and bows in their hands. They managed to destroy countless countries and established the biggest empire in human history, the Great Yuan Dynasty.

With only moderate strength and bowmanship, even a boor could easily kill people from a distance. The might of bow and arrows lay within the fact that it was something that lacked an effective way for people to guard against. This also made it incomparable to any other weapon.

On the Silver Continent, bowmanship was referred to as the art of archery. After advancing to a Martial Warrior, the art of archery was the first of the Confucian Six Arts. Not just that, but because the cultivation method for the art of archery was different from the average martial techniques, most people would even put cultivation for the art of archery on par with martial cultivation. Some extremists on this topic even believed that the importance of bowmanship was far above the martial arts. From this, one could understand the importance of the art of archery.

When an unprecedented danger was rapidly drawing near you and someone was after your life, and you were presented with two options. One was to search for a master to teach you martial arts, build your body and study a mixture of martial arts. The second option was to pick up the rifle or handgun in front of you and learn how to shoot. Which one would you choose?

Yan Liqiang would definitely pick the second option without a second thought because the second option would allow him to achieve the desired outcome in the fastest time with the most powerful result. This was also the reason why he had made up his mind to start practicing archery today.

Archery was the most effective way to transform a person’s energy into lethal killing power. This point alone was something that no other martial arts technique could surpass.

Yan Liqiang didn’t have anything else aside from his strength.

He practiced archery in the mountain forest, doing so without the need for any target boards, only needing to find a random big tree.

Yan Liqiang’s target was a big tree that was about thirty meters away from him. That tree trunk was so thick that it required the full arm span of a person in order to wrap around it, a little thicker than a person’s body. Behind that big tree was a sloping meadow. Even if arrows were to fly past that point, no one would get hurt and he also didn’t have to go too far to retrieve them. It was the most suitable to practice archery.

For his first arrow, Yan Liqiang drew his bow back to its fullest as he aimed for the distant tree trunk. The moment his grip loosened, he could feel the vibration of the Horned Python Bow’s bowstring and all he could hear was a soft ‘whoosh’ in the air by his ear as that arrow flew like lightning, vanishing within an instant.

The arrow that flew out really did vanish because Yan Liqiang’s eyesight wasn’t able to catch a glimpse of that arrow he’d released. He was even clueless as to where the arrow had ended up at. He only had a hunch that it was a miss because after he released it, that tree trunk that he had used as a target was still completely empty.

The first arrow was a miss and the Horned Python Bow was overdrawn causing it to accumulate too much power. In such a short distance, there was no need for a full draw at all.

During the second shot, he took into account the experience gained from his first, drawing back the bow back by about two-thirds less of its full length. The arrow was released. When this arrow flew out, although it was still difficult to follow with the naked eye as its speed was still very fast, Yan Liqiang was still able to see this arrow fly past the big tree trunk to its left and ended in the bush behind the slope.

Yan Liqiang made some adjustments again before releasing the third arrow...

The arrow strayed a little towards the right.

The fourth arrow strayed towards the left...

The fifth arrow grazed the tree trunk...

Archery was a completely strange enjoyment to him. Whenever an arrow was released, regardless whether or not that arrow hit its target, Yan Liqiang’s heart would always be filled with a sense of comforting and serene joy. In Yan Liqiang’s eyes, all of the arrows that were released from his hands were akin to birds soaring into the skies after he opened the door to their cage. It also felt like releasing those little fishes and loaches he bought from the fish market into the rivers and lakes. As long as he could see them regain their freedom with his own hands, that alone was a form of enjoyment and satisfaction for him, much like a spiritual massage.

From Yan Liqiang’s perspective, ever since he picked them up and shot the first arrow, the inanimate Horned Python Bow and ice-cold arrows seemed to have gradually turned into warm-bodied living things, naturally allowing him to feel closer to them.

...

When the eighth arrow was released, he finally heard a noise. The head of that arrow had finally penetrated into the tree trunk like a nail. The entire head of that arrow was buried in the tree trunk, leaving only the arrow shaft quivering like a leaf, after hitting the target...

The ninth arrow managed to hit the target again and the tenth arrow too...

Among the thirty-six arrows in the first quiver, apart from the first seven arrows that had missed the target, the other twenty-nine arrows hit the tree trunk and were firmly embedded in it.

“Archery doesn’t seem to be too difficult,” Muttering to himself, Yan Liqiang walked over to collect all the arrows he had released.

He could only retrieve the arrows stuck in the tree trunk by digging out the arrowheads with a small knife. He also found six out of the seven arrows that had flown beyond the tree. Due to the great force of the first arrow that Yan Liqiang had released, the arrow was almost entirely buried into the earthen slope, leaving only fletching at the end of the arrow visible. When Yan Liqiang was trying to pull it out, he discovered that the arrow shaft was already broken...

...

As expected of a formidable bow of five piculs. After releasing thirty-six arrows, even if he didn’t fully draw the bow, Yan Liqiang’s arm still felt a little sore. It was indeed extremely energy consuming. He ran to the bank of the mountain spring, took in a few mouthfuls of the refreshing spring water, and took a short break before he resumed his archery practice once again.

In the second round of practice, all thirty-five arrows met its target, hitting the tree trunk that was thirty meters away from him. Not a single arrow had strayed from its course...

In his third round of practice, he shot all thirty-five arrows one after another into the tree trunk. Still, none of them strayed. Not only that, the arrows that were shot into the tree trunk were arranged into a neat circular pattern, just like an archery target...

Looking at the neatly ordered arrows stuck in that tree trunk in the distance, Yan Liqiang was surprised with himself.

As he shot the second quiver of arrows, because they were scattered on the tree trunk, he thought it’d be best if he could shoot the third quiver of arrows close to the ones already in the tree trunk, in a way that they would form a circular target as that’d make it look nicer.

He ended up doing exactly what he was thinking in his heart. But, he didn’t expect that he could actually shoot the arrows in such a way that they really formed an orderly circular pattern.

He was feeling very relaxed and satisfied when he released the arrows but hadn’t expected for things to turn out exactly as he had imagined after he was done shooting.

After being in a daze for a while, Yan Liqiang made his way towards the big tree to retrieve all the arrows while muttering to himself, “It must’ve been due to this tree being too near. That must be it. It’s only this easy because of how near it is. Look at those great archers, they could even shoot an arrow through a willow leaf from a hundred paces away. It’s probable that even a child can accomplish this if the distance is merely a few dozen paces away...”

This whole experience was a little too outrageous, so Yan Liqiang’s reasoning to convince himself was that the target he had chosen was too near to him.

After putting away the arrows, Yan Liqiang rubbed his shoulders and took a short break, before searching for another target. His next target was a tree that was no less than fifty meters away from him. The distance between him and this tree was a huge step up when compared to his previous target.

Swoosh... The first arrow was released, only grazing the trunk of the tree on its left side.

Swoosh... The second arrow was released, grazing the trunk of the tree in a similar manner, except on its right side...

Swoosh... Thud!

However, the third arrow hit its target on the trunk of the tree. Like a nail, it was firmly embedded into the tree trunk.

Swoosh... Thud!

Swoosh... Thud!

Swoosh... Thud!

...

The subsequent thirty-two arrows all flew fifty meters to hit the tree trunk, not a single one of them missing their target.

Yan Liqiang had thought that increasing the distance to fifty meters might raise the difficulty considerably. However, after merely a few shots, he had a feeling that this distance of fifty meters didn’t really make much of a difference compared to thirty meters. They all seemed extremely easy for him.

Yan Liqiang retrieved all the arrows once again and after taking a short break, he picked up the Horned Python Bow once more.

His goal this time was the same as before; to shoot all the arrows into a circular pattern onto the tree that was fifty meters away.

Swoosh... Thud!

The first arrow hit its target accurately.

Soon after that, every arrow released by Yan Liqiang was arranged on the tree trunk like rice seedlings. Each and every single one of them surrounded the first arrow that he had released in a circular pattern, forming a complete circle.

Looking at the arrows that were neatly embedded in the tree trunk, Yan Liqiang swallowed a mouthful of saliva. Being able to shoot like this was equivalent to being able to hit the target with a rifle with perfect accuracy. If that tree was a human, then it would be too easy for him to kill that person.

How could this be? Didn’t they say that archery was very difficult? And that every improvement came at the cost of much effort and many hardships. Nurturing a good archer was akin to nurturing a sniper as they needed to be fed with countless arrows. If that was the case, then how was he able to shoot so easily?

Yan Liqiang had a heart full of doubt, but he also had a strange feeling in his heart. The more he shot with this Horned Python Bow, the more relaxed he felt. Aiming for the target seemed to gradually get easier and easier for him. All he had to do was to lock onto a certain spot with his gaze, then the arrow he released would act as though it were alive and naturally fly towards the spot that his eyes were affixed on.

As soon as he nocked an arrow and drew back his bow, between the bow in his hands and the target that his eyes were locked on, he would automatically gain a natural sense of touch and feel that would tell him how to best to release the arrow.

Was this really because the distance between them was too close? Or was it due to the target he had picked being too big? Hmm, that must have been the case.

Yan Liqiang collected back all the arrows once again.

After round upon round of shooting, three out of the thirty-five arrows were inevitably damaged, leaving him with only thirty-two usable arrows.

The so-called ‘shooting an arrow through a willow leaf a hundred paces away’ referred to the act of penetrating a willow leaf from a hundred steps away. A hundred paces in this phrase referred to the distance, whereas the leaf of the willow tree referred to the target. The shooting part referred to the force that the arrow could still maintain when it made contact with the willow leaf. These were the signs of a great archer.

The people from the ancient times considered the lift of a foot to be half a pace, whereas one pace was when both feet had taken a step forward. Hence, ‘a hundred paces’ from the phrase, ‘shooting an arrow through a willow leaf a hundred paces away’ that ancient people talked about was the distance of a hundred meters based on the strides of a normal person.

According to the standards from Yan Liqiang’s past life, if a person was able to shoot an object that was as tiny as a willow leaf over that distance with a gun, that person had already attained the qualification of being a sniper.

The third target that Yan Liqiang had chosen was a willow tree about seventy meters away. The trunk of that willow tree was a lot slimmer than that of the previous two trees, so much so that it wasn’t any thicker than Yan Liqiang’s thigh.

After he was settling on the target, Yan Liqiang stared at that willow tree as he took a deep breath, and picked up the Horned Python Bow.

Swoosh... The first arrow was released. It grazed the willow tree on its left side, leaving behind a mark.

Swoosh... The second arrow was released. It grazed that willow tree on its right side, leaving behind a mark.

After releasing two arrows, a strange feeling overcame him all of a sudden, feeling as though he had just released two birds. Yan Liqiang was suddenly able to feel that strange sensation between the bow in his hands and the target that his eyes were locked on again.

Swoosh... Thud!

The third arrow upon release immediately hit the direct center of the target, seven centimeters of the arrow buried in the tree trunk. With the immense force that the arrow had carried, it shook the willow tree, causing a few of its leaves to fall.

Yan Liqiang’s mind stirred as arrow after arrow continuously fired from the Horned Python Bow that he held.

Upon the release of the final arrow, there were three rows of arrows all neatly and vertically arranged on the trunk of that willow tree, seventy meters away. Each row was made out of exactly ten arrows and the distance between those arrows were all completely the same. From a distance, the three rows of arrows looked just like soldiers that were lining up for practice.

He reckoned that this was the same standard of that so-called ‘shooting an arrow through a willow leaf a hundred steps away’.

Could it be that he was a genius?

Just when this thought emerged within Yan Liqiang’s mind, he sensed a surge in the energy of the Heaven and Earth and Spiritual Qi around him all of a sudden. Following that, an aura of red light appeared around him. The silhouette of a white longbow manifested within that red light for more than ten seconds before it was immediately absorbed into his body, along with the red light.

An advancement! The First Heavenly Layer in the art of archery!

A month after Yan Liqiang attained the First Heavenly Layer in the art of archery, he had stayed in the Weaponsmith Quarter the entire time. He spent that time without heading out or any concerns regarding the events that were transpiring outside. He stayed within the Weaponsmiths Quarter to cultivate and train in peace.

Legend has it, that when Confucius was practicing the guqin, he never touched meat for three months. This was similar to the case with Yan Liqiang, someone who had already experienced the sweet taste of cultivation first-hand. He completely immersed his entire being into cultivating, even making adjustments to his own schedule and activity in the Weaponsmiths Quarter as a result.

Since it was too time-consuming for him to keep heading up and down the mountain to have his lunch and dinner, this entire month before going into the mountains, Yan Liqiang would bring some food from the dining hall along with him after having his breakfast. He would drink the spring water in the mountain whenever he was thirsty and would eat a bit of the food that he’d brought along when he was hungry. So like this, he would stay on the mountain every day until sunset before heading back.

Because of the familiarity that Yan Liqiang shared with the men in the Weaponsmiths Quarter, they weren’t bothered or bewildered by the things Yan Liqiang did. Moreover, the reason why Yan Liqiang would go into the mountain in the first place was to practice his bowmanship. Upon seeing a young man like him so diligent and hardworking, it was natural for each and every one of them to be glad.

There was one instance where a troop of soldiers who were responsible for patrolling the Weaponsmiths Quarter, went up into the mountain out of sheer curiosity to check up on what Yan Liqiang was doing. But before those soldiers could reach Yan Liqiang’s position on the mountaintop, an arrow came whooshing out from nowhere while they were only two to three hundred metes away from reaching the peak. The arrow landed in a tree trunk only a couple meters to the left of the leader of the troop. The arrowhead was buried three to four inches deep into the tree trunk, leaving the entire arrow shaft quivering incessantly.

When they saw the formidable power of the shot, the troop of soldiers were shocked to the point that they dared not take a single step forward, and hurriedly retreated down the mountain. During their encounter with Yan Liqiang on the very next day, when they brought this matter to his attention, Yan Liqiang responded with astonishment followed by a pure and innocent expression resembling a small white rabbit. “Ah! Big brothers went up the mountain yesterday? I wasn’t even aware of that! Yesterday, I was practicing my archery the entire time, sometimes the arrow would get launched high up in the air when trying to shoot down birds. I can’t control where it will land...”

After they listened to what Yan Liqiang had to say, several of them broke out in cold sweat and even the other men of the Weaponsmiths Quarter did not dare head up to the mountaintop out of curiosity anymore. Should one of them be unfortunate enough to get hit by Yan Liqiang’s arrows, they would die without being able to blame anyone else but themselves. They figured that Quarter Master Qian would just report it as an accident with one stroke of his brush, only needing to provide some form of compensation for the incident to come to an end.

After that day, nobody went up to the mountain to bother Yan Liqiang again. Even if Qian Su asked about his training, Yan Liqiang would answer with vague replies.

It wasn’t that Yan Liqiang didn’t want to tell Qian Su, rather it was because he was afraid that Qian Su would be shocked at the truth.

He had made his advancement into the First Heavenly Layer in the art of archery on his first day of practice, becoming an amazing bowsman. It was too alarming to have such a swift advancement, so much so that even Yan Liqiang himself was in a state of disbelief, unsure as to why it happened.

It had only been a week since he attained the First Heavenly Layer when Yan Liqiang’s cultivation in the art of archery once again resonated with Heaven’s will, giving rise to an advancement phenomena, signifying his success in entering the realm of the Second Heavenly Layer.

If it was said that the benchmark for the First Heavenly Layer in the art of archery was for one to be able to shoot arrows at still targets with great precision, then the Second Heavenly Layer was to possess the ability to shoot down a bird with every shot.

Shooting with great precision targeted still objects while shooting down a bird with every shot, targeted living, moving animals. The difficulty was definitely much higher in the latter more so than the former. That was the difference between a fixed target and a moving target. It was impossible for the majority of the people who had immersed themselves in cultivating the art of archery for a lifetime to attain the realm of the Second Heavenly Layer, yet, Yan Liqiang only required one week to do so.

In order to reach the realm of the First Heavenly Layer in the art of archery could possibly be done through sheer effort and sweat alone as Heaven rewarded the diligent. However, in order for one to achieve the realm of the Second Heavenly Layer in the art of archery, the precision necessary to hit down a bird within a hundred steps with every shot, would depend on luck as well as a person’s natural talent, or would require the advice of a great master.

Within the short period of seven to eight days, he had gone from a person who had never touched a bow and arrow into someone who had suddenly obtained the art of archery with the cultivation of realm of the Second Heavenly Layer. How could Yan Liqiang explain this to anyone?

Was he a rare talent in the art of archery? Or was all of this due to the effects of the Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing Manual? Or was it because of a mix between the two? Yan Liqiang did not know about that, but what he did know was that if news of such a cultivation speed were to spread, it would definitely arouse controversy. In the innumerable years of history of the Silver Continent, there had never been an individual like him with advancements in the art of archery cultivation at such lightning speeds. The word ‘genius’ couldn’t even begin to describe it as it was now simply seemed demonic!

If Yan Liqiang really was a demon cultivating the art of archery, then that would be great. Yan Liqiang would not be afraid to be exposed because when it came to innate talent as this was not something that could be taken away by anyone. However, he possessed a background with the Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing Manual secret technique. Therefore, Yan Liqiang didn’t want to reveal everything about himself before he was strong enough. That would be too idiotic.

For the remaining twenty days cultivating alone after advancing the art of archery cultivation into the realm of the Second Heavenly Layer, Yan Liqiang felt that his own strength was seemingly growing day by day.

The most obvious growth was his own power.

Within those twenty days, Yan Liqiang had not been lax cultivating Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing. On one hand, he was using the manual to cleanse and change his body in a way that his body could absorb a great amount of the Spiritual Qi and energy of the Heaven and Earth. While on the other hand, he was also continuously cultivating the art of archery. At the same time, he would practise up to two sets of Tiger Roaring Consecutive Fist, allowing him to stretch his muscle tendons. Whenever he was unoccupied, he would take that time to comprehend and mull over the ‘Nine Palace Wind Shadow Steps’ secret manual that Qian Su had given him. His schedule was packed every day and he felt very enriched. As for his own power, it had reached another level under this productive and fulfilling lifestyle.

Before he even started to cultivate the art of archery, when he had received the Horned Python Bow, Yan Liqiang first tried to fully draw the formidable Horned Python Bow to its extent. He found that he was only capable of doing so for 30 times while releasing it with full explosive force. This caused him to feel exhausted as a result, but he also found it slightly strenuous to draw the bow after. After the timespan of a month and without realizing, Yan Liqiang could now fully draw the bow more than 40 times. Not only that, but he could also feel that the strain from drawing the bow was also gradually dissipating.

Since there were no changes that he could find in the Horned Python Bow, it had to mean that he was the one who was undergoing changes.

During the same time that his physical strength was improving, the formidable power of his Tiger Roaring Consecutive Fist was also improving step by step. But more than that, Yan Liqiang also found that under the driving force of each form and movement of the Tiger Roaring Consecutive Fist, all of the tendons in his body were becoming more and more flexible and nimble.

Stretching Tendon and Extending Bone was the second stage in one’s advancement towards becoming a Martial Warrior. As the name indicated, the purpose of this stage was to completely pull and open up the tendons within the entirety of one’s body.

If the Horse Stance stage was focused on the issue of where the strength was coming from as well as whether it was available, then the Stretching Tendon and Extending Bone stage would address the issue on where the strength went as well as the effectiveness of the transmission. To put it in a more precise manner, only after the Stretching Tendon and Extending Bone stage, would one’s body only possess the foundations of exhibiting the formidable might of martial techniques and learning the martial techniques of a higher cultivation level. Without this foundation, then the so-called cultivation would be nothing more than a hollow display, impressive-looking but useless. Some cultivators wouldn’t even be able to create an impressive display.

...

For these twenty or so days, apart from the abovementioned, Yan Liqiang’s art of archery cultivation was also still improving every day at a rapid rate...

...

By the end of the fifth lunar month, Yan Liqiang could sense that his art of archery cultivation seemed to be on the verge of another breakthrough.

On the 31st day of the fifth lunar month, which just so happened to coincide with the end of the fifth lunar month, Yan Liqiang woke up and practiced a set of Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing just like he had done every day. After that, he practiced his fist technique once, then went to eat breakfast. As he returned back to his own courtyard, he carried a meal box prepared by the dining hall for him to eat on the mountain. He then strapped on his bow bag and quiver before going up the mountain.

When he arrived at his usual training location, Yan Liqiang was not in a hurry to practice his bowmanship. He set aside the bow bag, quiver, and meal box and began his cultivation of Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing.

When he began training, Yan Liqiang practiced Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing four times in a row, taking a total of six to seven hours. Only after the arrival of noon did he finally stop.

As Yan Liqiang came to a halt, he felt a sensation from his own spirit and strength which made him feel as if they were on the verge of bursting. He opened the bow bag and took out the Horned Python Bow, impaling an arrow into the grassy land before him. He closed his eyes soon after, holding onto the Horned Python Bow with one hand.

The scorching hot sun was like a fire above his head, the temperature more than 30 degrees(Celsius) while cicadas and bird cries could be heard from within the mountain forest. Yan Liqiang sat on the grass in a cross-legged position, motionless, akin to a rock but also similar to a sculpture holding onto a Horned Python Bow. For almost more than two hours, sweat had formed on his body dampening his back, leaving behind large wet area, however, the hand he used to hold onto the Horned Python Bow remained firm and steady as metal...

The sun in the sky gradually began to incline towards the west. A wave of dense clouds floated by, shrouding the sun, casting a large shadow on the earth below. A gust of wind blew from the east over the treetop canopies on the mountaintop and the meadow, carrying with it a long-absent cool and refreshing breeze. However, after a while, the clouds in the sky gradually became denser, looking as though it was soon going to rain...

Yan Liqiang used his ears to catch any sounds made by the leaves of the trees in the mountain. The rustling sounds of the tree leaves gradually became louder as time passed. Yan Liqiang’s lips also slowly became firmer in resolution...

Suddenly, a gale swept through the mountainside...

Yan Liqiang abruptly opened his eyes, his body immediately bolting up from his seat on the ground. With lightning speed, he grabbed the arrow pierced into the ground and fired it in one smooth motion.

This arrow shot was as fast as lightning. The moment the arrow was released from the bowstring, it had practically hit the delicate stem of a purple wildflower with a width that was roughly the size of a finger. This was despite the fact that the flower was swaying in the wind on the mountainside, more than a hundred and seventy meters away.

The purple wildflower flew into the sky, carried up by the gale.

Another arrow was shot. This arrow instantly hit the direct center of the purple wildflower flying amidst the gale. The flower tore into pieces, its four petals tumbling apart in the gale...

It barely took three seconds before another four arrows were launched in succession. The four purple flower petals were instantly hit by the ice-cold solid metal arrowheads. Eventually, they were firmly pinned on four different tree trunks located around a hundred and seventy to two hundred meters away from Yan Liqiang, scattered and smashed, only leaving behind traces of its lingering fragrance.

Appearing on Yan Liqiang’s body was a familiar glow, and within that glow was a sinister-looking black battle bow. The battle bow assimilated into Yan Liqiang’s body soon after.

The white bow represented the realm of the First Heavenly Layer of the art of archery cultivation whereas the gray bow represented the realm of the Second Heavenly Layer. And as for the black bow, of course, it represented the Third Heavenly Layer.

“So this is the realm attained by the highly regarded Yingyang Commandant of the Great Han Empire’s military, who dominated the art of archery. He’s one rank higher than Uncle Qian...” As he muttered to himself, a trace of smile soon appeared on Yan Liqiang’s face. The grin became wider and wider until Yan Liqiang couldn’t refrain from bursting into hearty laughter on the mountaintop...

A sudden clap of thunder resonated from the sky, as a drop of rain fell, cascading down Yan Liqiang’s face...

It had been a couple of days since it had last rained and yet, heavy rain poured abruptly today. From the first drop of rain that had landed on Yan Liqiang’s face until the heavy downpour, it all happened within the blink of an eye.

The heavy rain came pouring before Yan Liqiang even got the chance to collect the arrows that he had released.

Seeing how heavy the rain was, Yan Liqiang swiftly grabbed his bow, his arrows, and his basket of food before speeding off to get shelter from the rain in a small cave at the bottom of a mountain wall nearby.

That cave was very tiny, with a depth of no more than ten meters and height of around three meters. It wasn’t far from that cliff where he practiced his techniques. The old man from the Weaponsmiths Quarter said that this cave used to be a black bear’s den many years ago. Yet not even the fur of a bear could be found in the cave.

The mouth of this tiny cave turned into a waterfall in no time and became quite an appealing sight to behold.

Yan Liqiang sat on top of a rock at the entrance of the cave. He took out the basket of food that he had brought this morning and dug in.

Yan Liqiang had been accumulating his energy throughout the course of the day and never had the opportunity to have his lunch. He kept practicing the Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing over and over again. Yan Liqiang’s stomach had been protesting long ago, but he hadn’t given it much thought to it before so he didn’t feel how hungry he was. Now that he had achieved a breakthrough from the realm of the Second Heavenly Layer to the realm of the Third Heavenly Layer in the art of archery, he was completely loosened up now. It was only then that Yan Liqiang could feel himself starving to the point that he could swallow an entire cow alive.

There were two rice balls that were about the size of fists, four eggs, a piece of cooked beef weighing about half a jin and some preserved fruits and nuts in the food basket. They all tasted pretty delicious.

Yan Liqiang finished all the food in the food basket in one go but only felt slightly fuller.

Since Yan Liqiang saw that it was still raining outside after taking half an hour of rest, he figured that he might as well resume practicing the Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing in the cave for more two rounds. Yan Liqiang waited until the night began to fall. When the rain had totally stopped and the sky had cleared up, then he packed up and descended the mountain.

...

By the time that Yan Liqiang had climbed down the mountain, the sky was already completely dark.

Yan Liqiang stomped his feet to shake off the mud on the soles of his shoes and shook the droplets that had soaked his clothes outside the courtyard before he pushed open the door to his small courtyard with a ‘creak’. It was then that he saw Qian Su who was waiting for him under the roof of the small courtyard.

“Ah! Uncle Qian! What brings you here?” A smile appeared on Yan Liqiang’s face as he walked towards Qian Su. He winked at Qian Su, “Weren’t you taking a rest and recovering your strength in the quarter yesterday? According to Uncle Qian’s style from before, shouldn’t you be out with your confidante to enjoy the air and the moon today?”

Qian Su blushed and couldn’t help but shoot a glare at Yan Liqiang, “What do you know about enjoying the air and the moon at your age?”

“If I were to talk about all of those romances that I know of and show Uncle Qian the adult service menu[1], then he would have thought that they were really menus from a restaurant,” Yan Liqiang muttered in his heart. He used to work in the marketing business in his past life, thus it was inevitable for him to have to socialize with the customers. Some that had extreme tastes liked to visit those places for carnal pleasures, places that could practically make those who lacked the experience to doubt their outlook on life after their first experience. Yan Liqiang had been there a couple of times, but it didn’t suit his taste. Every time he went there, he would only go as far as sparking conversations the ladies that worked there. On top of that, he reckoned that even ten Qian Su added up together wouldn’t have as much knowledge as Yan Liqiang when it came to romance since he had come from an era of information expansion in his past life.

“Of course! Of course! I definitely have much to learn from Uncle Qian when it comes to romance!” Yan Liqiang laughed. He walked to the side of the pillar under the canopy to put away the quiver he had taken. Only when Yan Liqiang was setting down his quiver did he see that there were a couple of packed boxes at the entrance of the corridor under the canopy, “Did Uncle Qian bring me presents again? What’s in those boxes?”

“Ahem......Ahem.....” Qian Su feigned a couple of solemn coughs, “Those are the outfits I’ve prepared for you. There are new boots and new clothes. Go take a good bath and rid yourself of all the sweat for tonight. Put on all these things I’ve brought for you tomorrow morning!”

“What are these for?” Yan Liqiang blinked.

“Do you know what day it is tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow is the first day of the sixth lunar month!”

“And?”

“And.... it’s also.... tomorrow is also that Six....” When Yan Liqiang relaxed, he had nearly blurted out that tomorrow was Six One Children’s Day. But fortunately for him, he managed to swallow those words back right before he spilled it all out. There was no such thing as the Six One Children’s Day in the Silver Continent. Instead, there was another festival on the first day of the sixth lunar month. Yan Liqiang spun his eyeballs around and instantly recalled it. “Isn’t that... the Half Year Festival that falls on the first day of the sixth lunar month...”

Yan Liqiang finally completed his sentence.

The Half Year Festival of Great Han Empire was held on the first day of the sixth lunar month every year, during the summer. Summer was the time when the crop yields in the farms were at their highest. This was the reason why this Half Year Festival was also known as the Harvest Festival. It was considered to be a fairly lively festival.

“Good! You are correct! It is the Half Year Festival tomorrow and a steward from the Lu Clan came over to Weaponsmiths Quarter this afternoon. They have sent a couple of invitations to invite both of us as guests to join them at the Lu Residence’s Harvest Festival banquet for the Half Year Festival tomorrow. I’ve prepared these for you to wear tomorrow!” Qian Su spoke as he handed over a dark red colored invitation card to Yan Liqiang.

Yan Liqiang took a look and confirmed that it was indeed an invitation from Lu Clan. He scratched his head from being a little surprised. Nevertheless, this invitation was also within his expectations. After all, he had saved a member of Lu Clan just a month ago. This was the Lu Clan’s way of expressing their good will. It seemed that his previous efforts with the Lu Residence was paying off.

“Alright!” Yan Liqiang put away his invitation card. “So Uncle Qian, what time are we going to the Lu Residence tomorrow?”

“Let’s go in the morning! We can go right after our breakfast!”

“That early?” Yan Liqiang was a little startled. Even though this Half Year Festival celebration was an invitation, it would be more suitable for them to go over there in the afternoon. It was only a dinner, what other business did they have for them to be heading over there this early?

“Ahem..... Ahem..... There’s a lotus pond of several thousand mu behind the Lu Clan’s manor and it just so happens that the fish in that large lotus pond are in their season right now. I’m making use of this opportunity to invite a friend to gamble in fishing at that large lotus pond at the Lu Residence tomorrow. So I’ll have to be there earlier!”

Gambling while fishing? Yan Liqiang did not expect for Qian Su to have such a hobby. But since Qian Su said that, he didn’t really have a choice but to show up early. That just meant that they’d just be staying for an extra meal, not that the Lu Clan would mind it anyway.

...

Qian Su left after having resolved the matter. Yan Liqiang shook his head and smiled. He carried the bow bag on his shoulder and held the outfit which Qian Su had prepared for him in his arms before heading up the stairs.

The night passed by uneventfully. To Yan Liqiang however, it was time for his evening cultivation, which could be skipped regardless of how busy he was.

...

When Yan Liqiang gave himself a clean new look and showed up in the dining hall of the Weaponsmiths Quarter in the outfit Qian Su had prepared for him, all of the soldiers in the Weaponsmiths Quarter gasped in surprise. A crowd was gathering around Yan Liqiang in no time as each and every one of them stared at him intently.

As the saying goes, ‘a person depends on their apparel, a buddha depends on gold’ [2]. Originally, Yan Liqiang didn’t look bad at all, he was rather handsome with his thick eyebrows and big eyes. But over this period of time that he cultivated the Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing, his appearance and temperament had undergone some changes along with his body after being cleansed over and over again. Aside from his height that had increased by half an inch, his skin now glowed with a youthful rosy color. His eyes were also brighter and his body now stood straighter and stronger. Along with his advancement into the realm of the Third Heavenly Layer in the art of archery, was a type of indescribably confident yet insightful temperament that now appeared on him. He had grown from a little handsome man into a handsome man who seemed to be more energetic and more masculine. If he was in his previous world with his current appearance and temperament, he would most likely be able to become an idol among teenage girls too if he were recruited into TFBOYS [3] after a makeover.

On top of all these criteria, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to use the words ‘handsome’ and ‘outstanding’ to describe Yan Liqiang after being fitted into the azure blue silk gown that Qian Su had prepared for him. It was fastened with a belt that was adorned with a few pieces of white jade as well as a pair of buckskin low boots that slightly enhanced his height on his feet.

“Master Yan! I heard that you’ll be paying the Lu Clan a visit today. You’re going to bring yourself a wife home from the Lu Clan tonight if you’re going over there looking like this...” Zhou Yong said jokingly.

As soon as Zhou Yong finished his sentence, the Smith Head of the paint courtyard immediately stepped right in, “With Master Yan’s potential, one is not enough. He should have at least eight if not ten wives in the future...”

“Hahaha...” Everyone in the surroundings laughed out loud when they heard those words.

“Brothers and uncles! Please let me through. My stomach is growling as I have yet to have my breakfast. My entire day depends on this meal. If everyone has not seen enough, then you can watch me as I eat. How about that?” Yan Liqiang bowed to everyone in the surrounding with his hands clasped. This caused the people around laughed even harder, but they still gave way to Yan Liqiang.

...

Two lofty rhinodrake steeds had been prepared in the Weaponsmiths Quarter a while ago. After breakfast, Yan Liqiang took a rest and reorganized himself before he climbed onto the rhinodrake steed and traveled to the Lu Clan’s manor with Qian Su who had also changed his outfit, chatting and laughing along the way.

...

Just as Yan Liqiang was leaving the Weaponsmiths Quarter, a guest arrived at the door of the Yan Clan’s blacksmith shop back in Liuhe Town of Qinghe County early in the morning.

That guest was dressed up as a traveling merchant and wore a hat. Below that tilted hat of his was a face so pale that it would put even the dead to shame, and that face was a pair of unappealing triangular eyes. The most eye-catching feature of that man was the pea-sized mole that was on his left cheek.

This person was also pulling a horse along with him.

Staring at the blacksmith shop that had just opened and was ready for business, the man with triangular eyes had an evil aura emanating from his eyes.

Since Yan Liqiang had been hiding in the Weaponsmiths Quarter, there was nothing he could do about it. But he didn’t believe that Yan Liqiang would continue hiding after he found out that his family was in trouble.

Damn it! His initial plan was to do some business during his stay in Qinghe County. He planned to leave right after he completed his task and obtained the money, but who would have thought that this would drag on for so long?

“Ptui!” He spat as he directed his triangular eyes to the floor. He then called out to the Yan Clan’s blacksmith’s workshop, “Boss! The horseshoe for my horse is broken. Help me make a horseshoe.....”

Due to the fact that it was the Half Year Festival[1] today, there were many people heading to the market and visiting their relatives. Hence, the streets were bustling with residents and carts; it was rather lively.

As they were not in a hurry, Yan Liqiang and Qian Su rode their rhinodrake steeds and engaged in casual conversation as though they were taking a leisurely stroll. It wasn’t convenient for them to traverse on the street either as people crowded it. It took them almost two hours to reach the Lu Residence after their departure from the Weaponsmiths Quarter.

As expected, the present Lu Residence was more lively in comparison to a month ago. On the way to the residence, the travelers on foot had increased multiple folds in the morning alone when compared to the past. It was as though residents from each town and village in a ten li radius were heading towards the Lu Residence.

Each of the clans or families heading towards the Lu Residence brought each member along; this was inclusive of the young and old who sat in horse carriages or bullock carts. Hence, they were in either a group of five to six people or in a large group with dozens of people. Every single one of them headed to the Lu Residence in high spirits.

A number of them drove carts with empty seats that were still able to fit a number of people. Many of these people invited those traveling on foot into the cart so that they could journey together.

There were a couple of young men who rode their horses while some traversed by foot. Each and every single one of them was enthusiastic.

Within a carriage decorated with fresh flowers were a couple of young girls who sat in groups of three or four. Each one of them donned brightly colored skirts with all kinds of beautiful flowers inserted in their hairs. They were gorgeously dressed as they accompanied the crowd along the road.

The girls chattered incessantly whilst the men laughed heartily. The young men and women would exchange glances and occasionally tease each other. They would ask each other about things like which town or village they came from, who they knew, and whether either one of them also knew them. In the case that they got along with each other, the men would then proceed to invite the women to accompany them. Should the women agree, they would then move together as a group, bustling even more with noise and excitement. However, if neither of them got along, they would then go on their separate paths, not bothering each other in the slightest.

Yan Liqiang was fascinated as he witnessed such a scene unfolding before him. In his previous life, taking a stroll down the street was an extremely common occurrence. The only difference was that the atmosphere when taking a stroll in his previous life couldn’t be compared to the ardent and festive atmosphere before his very eyes. Although the shopping malls on the streets would do their utmost to create a festive and lively atmosphere during Chinese New Year or other important festivities, the people still felt incredibly distant from each other, slightly cold and detached. It was unable to be compared to the festive and ardent atmosphere displayed before his eyes.

As a result, Yan Liqiang was also deeply moved by the smiles and the enthusiasm he witnessed on the crowd’s faces on his journey.

As he rode on the large rhinodrake steed, Yan Liqiang had frequently stolen the hearts of many young women during the journey due to his handsome and extraordinary appearance.

“Uncle Qian, why is the Lu Residence so lively today?”

Yan Liqiang asked. However, upon noticing that Qian Su did not reply, he turned around, only to discover that Qian Su’s gaze was fixated on a woman sitting on the bullock cart further ahead. The woman appeared to be older than thirty years of age. She was dressed in a red skirt and was at the prime age of her life. Her entire figure was as round as pearls and as smooth as jade. She possessed a full bosom and perky buttocks, seemingly rather pretty.

The woman had also noticed that Qian Su was eyeing her. The duo was currently exchanging flirty and amorous glances with one another.

Yan Liqiang softened his voice, “Ahem...ahem... Uncle Qian...”

“Ah? What? Liqiang, were you calling me...?” Qian Su abruptly awoke from his trance and turned to ask Yan Liqiang.

“Such a beautiful scene to behold. How about Uncle Qian go up and ask? If the bullock cart still has vacant seats, then Uncle Qian can squeeze together with the woman. I will lead this rhinodrake to Lu Residence instead!” commented Yan Liqiang mischievously with narrowed eyes.

Qian Su’s aged face flushed as he glared daggers at Yan Liqiang. “A youngster like you dares to tease his elder?!”

Yan Liqiang instantly began to laugh uproariously.

...

There was still some distance before they arrived at one of the outer gates of the Lu Residence. Yan Liqiang soon caught sight of an old friend Lu Wenbin, who was throwing a look in his direction. Both him and Qian Su looked very conspicuous riding their rhinodrake steeds. When they took notice of Lu Wenbin, Lu Wenbin also saw them. By the time they rode their rhinodrake steeds close enough, Lu Wenbin promptly moved towards them with an enthusiastic, splendid expression on his face.

Yan Liqiang and Qian Su dismounted from their rhinodrake steeds, handing over the reins of the steeds to the two servants from Lu Clan who had come over with Lu Wenbin.

“Lu Wenbin pays my respect to Quarter Master Qian and Young Master Yan!” Lu Wenbin bowed towards them. Even Lu Wenbin himself couldn’t resist the temptation to take a second glance at Yan Liqiang as he noticed how different his demeanor was after changing into a new set of clothes.

Yan Liqiang blinked at Lu Wenbin and smiled. “Steward Lu is being too nice!”

“Hahaha! Is Brother Peien here? I promised to have a bet with Brother Peien today. I can’t wait any longer! The sun has just risen so it’s a good time to go fishing now...” said Qian Su as he glanced around his surroundings.

“Sixth Brother is already waiting for Quarter Master by the lake!”

“That’s great. I’ll go now. I’ll go now...” As soon as Qian Su finished, he turned around to speak to Yan Liqiang, “The scenic view at Lotus Flower Lake is beautiful as it can be found in Huanglong County. You haven’t seen it yet so you can come along with me. If you want to go around the Lu Residence’s market, you can wait until the afternoon because that’s when it will be bustling with people.”

“That’s right! It’ll be lively when the theatrical trope we’ve invited begin their performances in the afternoon. If Young Master Yan is interested in watching the play, you can wait and head over there in the afternoon. Our master has already requested us to leave a seat empty for Young Master Yan on the viewing platform...” explained Steward Lu smilingly.

“Okay. Then let’s head over and admire the view of Lotus Flower Lake that Uncle Qian suggested.” Yan Liqiang nodded.

“Both of you, please follow me...”

The three of them did not enter the Lu Residence. Lu Wenbin immediately brought the two to the riverside outside of the Lu Residence’s walls, before eventually boarding a small boat. After Steward Lu informed the boatman, the boatman then rowed the small boat towards the far off distance.

The boat was completely packed with two people sitting in it and the boatman. The boat moved briskly on the river. Before they knew it, the boat eventually rowed into a beautiful scenic lake which couldn’t be noticed with a glance after taking a spin around the Lu Residence’s walls.

The water of the lake was so clear that the bottom could clearly be seen. One could catch a glimpse of the fish swimming in it. When surveying the surroundings from the boat, pieces of lotus leaves were everywhere. A lot of green frogs were crouching on the bundle of lotus leaves, their eyes widening largely as they stared at the men on the boat. They eventually leaped into the water after the boat neared them.

It was currently at the height of summer, the time when lotus flowers bloomed. Pink, white or red lotus flowers stood slender and elegant amidst the lotus leaves and could be reached easily with the stretch of an arm. Nothing more beautiful could be imagined as far as their eyes could see. The small boat rowed along, as though it was rowing through a lush green forest. The lotus leaves swayed prettily and gently as a gentle breeze swept past. All they could smell was the delicate fragrance of the simple and elegant lotus flower which simply ensorcelled them.

In just a short while, the boatman rowed the small boat to a small island in the center of the lake.

The small island was surrounded by water and there was even a pavilion and a loft situated on it with a variety of plants around them. It was precisely a good place to fish.

A solid and dumpy built thirty-year-old man stood at the edge of the stone step on the island. His facial feature bore some resemblance to Old Master Lu, having two little mustaches on the edge of his lips. He cast a gaze jovially at the approaching small boat.

“Hahaha! Brother Qian, you’re finally here! Let’s see who’s better today. It just so happens that we can have fish stew tonight...” The man grasped Qian Su’s shoulders as he burst into laughter. Then he turned to throw a glance at Yan Liqiang. He sized Yan Liqiang thoroughly from the top to the bottom, and the smiling expression on his countenance became more apparent. “This must be Young Master Yan. As expected, what a fine-looking man!”

“Yan Liqiang greets Master Sixth!” Yan Liqiang greeted the man.

This Sixth Master was known as Lu Peien, one of the sons of Old Master Lu. He was the sixth son of the clan. When Yan Liqiang listened to Lu Wenbin explain the affairs of the Lu Residence before, he had already heard of Lu Peien’s name. The many properties that the Lu Clan owned in Huanglong County Seat were handled by Lu Peien. This man could be considered to be smooth and slick in establishing networks and was one of the core members of the Lu Clan.

Yan Liqiang did not find it strange in the slightest upon knowing Qian Su was friends with Lu Peien. Qian Su tended to frequent Drunken Fragrance Inn, which was one of the properties that Sixth Master handled. What made him puzzled was that, as an extremely busy man, why did Sixth Master have the time to come here and bet with Qian Su to kill time? There was an off-chance that they perhaps had some important matters to discuss, similar to how big bosses loved to discuss business deals over playing golf in his previous life.

“Liqiang, I’m going to fish here with Brother Peien. You’re a young man. If you find this boring, why don’t you use the boat to go around Lotus Flower Lake? Let’s just meet up when it’s time for lunch!”

Yan Liqiang was more than happy when Qian Su said that. It was simply a torture for him to sit here and do nothing while staring at the two fishing rods.

After bidding his goodbyes to Qian Su and Lu Peien, Yan Liqiang once again boarded the small boat, requesting the boatman to go around the lake.

Upon seeing Yan Liqiang leaving, both Qian Su and Lu Peien exchanged smiles with each other...

...

The golden lake was a feast for the eyes, enough for Yan Liqiang to linger on with no thought of leaving...

“Ah, Young Master Yan! Crap! The boat is leaking...” the boatman screamed abruptly. Yan Liqiang lowered his head to look. Unbeknownst to him, there was suddenly a hole about the size of a wine cup at the base of the board of the boatman’s feet behind him. Water was gurgling up from the bottom.

Why was there suddenly a hole in the boat?

“I know how to swim so it’s alright. You just row the boat back!” said Yan Liqiang calmly.

“There are two people on this boat. The water is leaking at an alarming rate so I’m afraid I can’t row it back...”

“Then what do we do? Are you saying we should all swim back?” Yan Liqiang looked at the boatman ridiculously. If that were the case, then his outfit today would be completely destroyed. He wasn’t particularly worried about the clothes though, as he just found the whole incident to be slightly ludicrous. He never expected he would encounter a situation like this.

“There’s no need to go that far. Young Master Yan just needs to change boats. I can row back on my own first...”

“Switch boats? What boat?”

“Ah....!” The boatman shouted exaggeratedly, no different than the surprised gasps from a couple of chefs in Stephen Chow’s ‘God of Cookery’ movie. “Look, Young Master Yan! What a coincidence! A boat has just arrived...” The boatman gestured into the distance. Turning his head, Yan Liqiang saw a small boat slide out amidst the lotus leaves.

On the boat were a boatman and a woman in a green dress. By the time he glanced at them, the woman on the boat also looked towards him, sizing up Yan Liqiang thoroughly. Her expression was extremely odd...

The boatman called out to the other and the other boat rowed over. The two small boats then met between the lotus leaves. After the boatmen stabilized the boats, Yan Liqiang made the switch and sat in the new boat.

The boatman who had brought Yan Liqiang here then rowed the ‘leaking’ boat away, instantly vanishing into the lotus leaves in the blink of an eye...

The lady sitting in the small boat was about twenty years old. She had a very lovely face and actually slightly resembled Angelababy[1], but with a healthier-looking figure which made her appear to look even better. Even though this woman was sitting on the boat with her legs close together like she was a young lady from a wealthy family, Yan Liqiang could still make out the obvious outline of her slender yet powerful legs hidden underneath her green dress.

This woman had very fair skin on top of that. The paleness wasn’t the same as what he had seen from those cosmetics used in the past life, it was more of a youthful and healthy aura that came from within her. Her skin was translucent like jade and was also tinted with a pinkness that brimmed with vitality. Furthermore, this woman had very bright eyes that were overflowing with vigor. A lady of such caliber was definitely not someone that could be compared to little girls like Angelababy.

Based on his experience, Yan Liqiang could tell that this woman was definitely also a martial arts practitioner. Although she looked serene like a young lady from a wealthy family right now, the energy, essence, and spirit that this woman exuded were incomparable to that of an ordinary woman.

At this very moment, Yan Liqiang’s mind reacted despite how slow he could be sometimes. It was most likely Qian Su who had arranged his ‘meeting’ with this woman during his trip to Lotus Flower Lake.

For Qian Su to be this meticulous and for so many in the Lu Residence to put an act on just to create opportunities, this woman definitely had to have an unusual status at the Lu Residence.

The gears in Yan Liqiang’s brain turned rapidly. In just a moment, he was able to remember a person among the figures in Lu Clan that Lu Wenbin had introduced to him before – the Ninth Lady of the Lu Residence. The beloved daughter of Old Master Lu, Lu Beixin.

Lu Beixin was the youngest daughter that Old Master Lu had gotten at his old age and thus he pampered her a lot. However, Lu Wenbin previously mentioned that Lu Beixin had been studying at a martial arts academy in the Pingxi Prefecture. So why did she return to the Lu Residence and appear before him, sizing him up with such a strange gaze?

The way this woman was sizing up Yan Liqiang instantly reminded him of the two potential girlfriends that his friend had introduced to him in his past life. She was checking him out in the same way they did when had they first met.

Could it be that Old Master Lu had planned out such a drama because he wanted him to be a son-in-law to the Lu Clan?

Yan Liqiang’s mind was a little dizzy. Although this line of thought was somewhat beyond his belief, this was the best explanation for the situation before his eyes. If it wasn’t for the Old Master’s approval, who in the entire Lu Residence would dare to introduce a potential partner to his precious daughter without his knowledge?

Yan Liqiang didn’t know whether to laugh or cry all of a sudden.

At this moment, that woman who had been staring at Yan Liqiang reach up her head and removed a golden hairpin. Without even taking a look at it, she tossed that hairpin far into the lake.

“Lu Shun, I dropped my hairpin. Can I trouble you to help me retrieve it...?” that woman said indifferently.

The boatman who was rowing put down the oar in his hands without a word. The boat rocked gently as the boatman instantly plunged into the water with a plop. He was simply a great swimmer, there were no splashes as he exhibited his extraordinary swimming ability.

All of a sudden only Yan Liqiang and this woman were left on the small boat.

A hint of a smile appeared on the corner of the woman’s lips. The gaze that she sized him up with instantly grew intense as she started to scrutinize him.

“Ahem... ahem... Greetings, Miss Lu!” As a man, Yan Liqiang took the initiative to greet her.

“You know me?” Lu Beixin was a little taken aback before a trace of anger appeared her face. “They told you about it already?”

“Please don’t misunderstand, Miss Lu. It was only my guess!”

Lu Beixing gave Yan Liqiang an unconvinced look, seemingly distrustful of his words. “Your guess? What can you guess?”

“Parents will always care about their children!” Yan Liqiang let out a sigh. “Wouldn’t I be too stupid if I still couldn’t guess what was going on up until this point?”

“You’re quite a bright one!” Lu Beixin’s gaze finally softened. “So you’ve already figured out the situation?”

Yan Liqiang spread out his arms. “Rest assured, Miss Lu. It’ll be fine as long as you can explain to Old Master Lu. I’m fourteen this year. It’s still too early for me to talk about marriage, so this can buy you some time. Over the next few years, I think Miss Lu still will have chances to take action and regain your right to making a decision for your own marriage. If anyone in the Lu Clan asks, I will say that I am getting along quite well with Miss Lu and that Miss Lu is well educated, graceful, and is like an elder sister to me. What do you think?”

As the saying goes, ‘Which young man doesn’t want to stay loyal to a lover and which young lady doesn’t yearn for love?’ Lu Beixin had just turned nineteen and was in the prime of her youth. Not only that but she was currently staying in the prefectural city and had a lot of opportunities to meet opposite sex. Yan Liqiang would definitely not believe it if Lu Beixin didn’t have someone in her mind or was secretly in love with someone. In any case, even if Lu Beixin didn’t have anyone in her mind or someone she was secretly in love with, or even if she had completely no experience in love, Yan Liqiang still felt that Lu Beixin wouldn’t have any romantic feelings for him or any favorable impression on him, given their age.

Women always mature early, be it their physical appearance or emotions. A lady at Lu Beixin’s age probably admired a handsome, confident, easy going, and promising young man. It could even be someone like Tony Leung[2] or a mature man like Wu Xiubo[3] who looked like a stylish uncle, but definitely not someone who was a lot younger than her like a fourteen-year-old boy whose pubic hair hadn’t even fully grown out. This was all predetermined by Darwin’s theory of evolution and a woman’s hormone level.

Right now, the most possible scenario was Lu Beixin already had someone she liked in her heart but the Old Master Lu didn’t know about that yet. That was why he had dragged him here to match them up together.

Yan Liqiang wasn’t going to refuse in getting to know Lu Beixin to form a close relationship with the Lu Clan. However, he wasn’t going to let his sperm race to his brain and assume that this darling daughter from the Lu Clan was waiting for his arrival for all nineteen years...

Since this was the case, it was better for him to get right to the point to avoid wasting each other’s time. He had a feeling that Lu Beixin had sent the boatman away just now because she wanted to lay her cards on the table.

Lu Beixin was dumbstruck while she stared at Yan Liqiang. She definitely didn’t expect this boy to actually finish saying the words she wanted to say before she could even speak. Back then, she had snorted when she heard the story about Yan Liqiang saving her little nephew’s life. She even thought that it was nonsense on how Yan Liqiang had claimed that his knowledge was imparted by some deity in his dream. Yan Liqiang could have just been lucky enough to have picked up that lost secret technique from somewhere else. At this very moment, however, Lu Beixin had a feeling that what Yan Liqiang had claimed could have been true...

Facing Yan Liqiang’s deep gaze that didn’t seem to fit his age, Lu Beixin felt as though this youth sitting across from her could really see through her heart. It made her felt somewhat flustered. She couldn’t help but avert her gaze to the pink lotus flower that she had plucked in her hands despite her aggressive attitude just now.

“Regardless, I still have to thank you for saving Shaolin...” Lu Beixin took a deep breath and then smiled at Yan Liqiang.

This was an indication that she had silently admitted to the words than Yan Liqiang had just said...

Lu Shaolin was the Old Master Lu’s grandson whom Yan Liqiang had saved last time.

“You’re welcome. That’s something I should do. Besides, the Lu Clan has already given me ample reward!” Yan Liqiang replied calmly as he also averted his gaze from Lu Beixin’s face. A harmless and innocent smile reappeared on his face as he changed the conversation topic. “I wonder if it’s too much to ask for Miss Lu to show me around Lotus Flower Lake?”

The fact that both them had a mutual understanding of the most important matter caused Lu Beixin to instantly feel relieved. She patted the side of the boat to make some noises. The head of the boatman who had just dived into the water resurfaced not too far away from them with the golden hairpin that Lu Beixin had thrown into the water in his hand as he swam towards the boat. He placed both of his hands at the end of the boat. The boat rocked gently as he pulled himself up.

“Miss, here’s your hairpin!”

“Alright. You may keep it as a reward!” Lu Beixin was in a great mood. “Young Master Yan wishes to tour around Lotus Flower Lake. I shall leave the rest to you!”

“Understood, you can rest assured Miss!” The boatman gladly accepted the golden hairpin. With a simple and honest smile, he started rowing the boat energetically.

...

A little more than an hour passed by as both of them casually walked around the lake and chatted. It wasn’t until near lunchtime that the small boat which had sent Yan Liqiang out to the lake was ‘repaired’ and was rowing back towards him again. Yan Liqiang returned to his own small boat and parted with Lu Beixin...

With that, their first date that had been arranged by the Lu Clan and Qian Su came to an end.

As Yan Liqiang watched the Lu Beixin’s figure fade away, the judgment in his heart grew clearer. There was no doubt that Lu Beixin already liked someone else, but she hadn’t told Old Master Lu yet. She had been acting like an obedient child in front of Old Master Lu with a great concern in her heart as if she was worried about something.

Old Master Lu didn’t even mind a poor child like himself, so the concern in Lu Beixin’s heart was definitely not connected to the background of the person she liked. It must have been for another reason. She knew that Old Master Lu would definitely not agree to it if she had told him and he might’ve even been furious so she hid the truth and didn’t dare to tell him.

There was only one great possibility for Old Master Lu to express so much disapproval towards a person whom he had never seen before.The identity of the man that Lu Beixin liked was most likely from a family or clan that was on bad terms with the Lu Clan and Old Master Lu.

He vaguely recalled Lu Wenbin mentioning that the only clan that didn’t deal with the Lu Clan in the entire Huanglong County was the Wang Clan.

The Lu Clan and Wang Clan were both great clans in Huanglong County. However, these two clans had always been incompatible like fire and water with each other.

Hence, it was highly possible that the person whom Lu Beixin liked was from the Wang Clan!

That person was most definitely not a nobody in the Wang Clan to be able to attract a lady like Lu Beixin. He was surely an extremely outstanding individual, about the same age as Lu Bei Xin and had a lot of opportunities to be together with Lu Beixin. It would be very easy for him to find a person with such a profile.

If Lu Beixing found out that Yan Liqiang was able to guess all the secrets in her heart through just this one meeting, she would definitely regret meeting him this time.

Although Romeo and Juliet was a beautiful tale, the reality was that not every Juliet could meet a Romeo...

Should he tell the people from the Lu Clan about this?

Yan Liqiang was slightly hesitant...

By the time Yan Liqiang arrived to meet Qian Su in the small island at the center of the lake, Qian Su and Lu Peien’s bet had already ended. Both of them were currently sitting in the pavilion in the middle of the island. They had started a fire on the stove and racked a copper pot over it. The aroma of fish stew inside the copper pot wafted through the air in all directions, with plates of steaming dishes placed around it. The two of them were currently engaged in casual conversation as they awaited Yan Liqiang’s return.

The moment Yan Liqiang arrived, the two old men exchanged glances with one another. Lu Peien broke into a crafty-looking smile. “What does Young Master Yan think of the Lotus Flower Lake scenery?”

“The countless lotus flowers in Lotus Flower Lake are beautiful beyond measure. Unexpectedly, it gives rise to a feeling that’s out of the world as the boat rowed amongst them...” Yan Liqiang smiled as he went over, greeting the two of them. He then sat down on the chair that was left for him and calmly said, “What a coincidence, I met Miss Lu by chance in the lake, she was picking lotus flowers there. My boat was leaking so I rode on Miss Lu’s boat as we took a spin around the lake..”

Prior to this, Yan Liqiang was still hesitating as to whether he should reveal his conjecture that there was a possibility Lu Beixin was in love with the Wang Clan’s son to the Lu Residence. But at this time, Yan Liqiang dispelled that idea. As the saying went, blood was thicker than water, and to the Lu Clan, he was still an outsider. If he rashly blabbed to the Lu Clan about this, there was an off-chance that it would cause him to be ostracized. Besides, this was only a conjecture so there was a possibility that he could be wrong. Thus, it was better for him to be patient and feigned ignorance instead.

However, the Sixth Master before him was a shrewd man. Perhaps he could discreetly try to hint to him so that the man from the Lu Residence could pay slightly more attention to their Ninth Lady’s movements within the prefectural city. This wasn’t an attempt to break them up, instead, it was to give the Lu Clan a benevolent reminder as someone who had personally experienced it.

Lu Beixin was very smart but no matter how intelligent a woman was, there were times when they would be blinded out of their minds with love affairs. From Yan Liqiang’s view, the current Lu Beixin was completely no different than those women who foolishly met their internet friends only to get drugged and ultimately scammed and raped in his past life.

“Hahaha, come! Come! Come! Young Master Yan, let’s eat! Let’s eat! Young Master Yan, do try out the flavor of this fish stew from Lotus Flower Lake...”

Lu Peien was also very crafty. When he heard Yan Liqiang and Lu Beixin had met, he only laughed and did not ask about the details. Instead, he called out to Yan Liqiang to begin eating. Yan Liqiang also wasn’t in a hurry to say anything because he knew that Qian Su and Lu Peien would definitely indirectly ask him about his impression of Lu Beixin during the meal.

Sure enough, midway through the meal, Yan Liqiang’s uncle, Qian Su, sold him out. He commented that Yan Liqiang had grown up and was already an ‘adult’, even going as far as to urge him to drink two cups of wine. When Yan Liqiang was feeling tipsy and merry, Qian Su once again brought up Yan Liqiang’s tour around the lake, indirectly wanting to listen to his opinion of Lu Beixin.

What kind of opinion could Yan Liqiang have? Naturally, he picked all her good traits and made a lot of remarks such as how she was pretty, generous, educated and such was.

Lu Peien was sitting to the side, beaming with joy as he listened. Occasionally, he would exchange a meaningful glance with Qian Su, appearing to be very satisfied.

After he praised Lu Beixin for a short while, Yan Liqiang used the fact that he was tipsy as a pretext to say what he really wanted in the first place.

“I heard Miss Lu said that she’s still studying in the prefectural city’s martial arts academy. It truly is the envy of everyone. Those who can enter the martial arts academy in Pingxi Prefecture are all young talents from various regions who are around the same age as Miss Lu. Thinking about it, being able to learn, train and be friends with so many other young talents also must be very exciting. During this year’s martial arts examination, I must work hard for an opportunity to enter our Pingxi Prefecture’s martial arts academy. At that time, perhaps I can again meet with Miss Lu and get acquainted with Miss Lu’s friends...”

Lu Peien had been smiling non-stop as he listened to Yan Liqiang. After Yan Liqiang finished speaking, only then did he slightly knit his brows together while casting a thoughtful glance at Yan Liqiang.

...

The reason why they had come to the Lu Residence this early in the morning was to create an opportunity for Yan Liqiang and Lu Beixin to meet. By the time he had finished lunch, it was already noon. Yan Liqiang realized that was the time when the Lu Residence was really bustling with energy upon returning to the Lu Residence from the island in the center of the lake. The many guests that the Lu Clan had invited only arrived in the afternoon. The plaza amidst the entirety of the Lu Residence was turned into the focal point of the surrounding townsfolk and villagers celebrating the Half-Year Festival.

The Lu Clan had set up a stage in the plaza and surrounding it stood various kinds of refreshment, snacks and small business booths. A merry atmosphere enveloped the entire Lu Residence, especially the area surrounding the plaza’s stage was packed full of people, it. When the gong went off on the stage, signaling the start of the opera, the cheers from the crowd simply went through the roof.

Everything was good in this world. The air was great, the mountain was great and the water was without a doubt, amazing. There is only one aspect that needed improvement and that was the lack of an entertainment that could please people. Under such circumstances, the greatest form of entertainment that everyone could think of was watching theatrical shows. This was the main reason why the Lu Residence was so lively.

In his past life on Earth, Yan Liqiang once heard a couple of old men chatting about a grand occasion during their younger years when they caught wind of news that a small movie team was heading to the nearby countryside to air movies. Knowing where movies would be aired during that period was a major event that could create a huge stir in the surrounding towns and villages.

For the sake of watching movies, the majority of households including the young and elderly would choose to give up dinner. They would boil a couple of potatoes to bring along on the journey as well as a small stool. Occasionally, the whole family would walk up miles worth of mountain roads, all for the sake of watching open-air films such as ‘Tunnel War’, ‘Shaolin Temple’ and so on. On the journey back, everyone would break out their torches as they rushed home through the night, each of them in high spirits as though they were celebrating the New Year...

When he heard what they said back then, Yan Liqiang was in utter disbelief. However, upon seeing the spectacle of the theatrical show before him today at the Lu Residence, he finally believed it.

The Lu Clan had placed two canopies at the best positions in front of the theatre stage and had left a lot of chairs for invited guests. As the show began, even the Lu Clan’s lord was already zestfully seated at the front. Qian Su was also fully engrossed in the performance on the stage as his spirit trembled with excitement.

Lu Beixin was also present, except that she was sitting with the other women of the Lu Clan and female guests on the other side which was quite a distance from Yan Liqang. After she nodded her greetings to Yan Liqiang, she then treated him like air.

The others were watching the play on stage with gusto. On the other hand, after he fulfilled his curiosity and watched the performers on stage sing for a while, Yan Liqiang was so overcome with boredom that he almost fell asleep. Without waiting for the rest of the acts to perform, Yan Liqiang came up with an excuse and fled from the viewing platform, heading off to watch a couple of craftsmen creating clay dolls at the side of the plaza.

At dinnertime, Old Master Lu even publicly introduced Yan Liqiang to their invited guests. When the guests heard Old Master Lu’s introduction, only then did they realize that the recent news on the method to save drowned people which had been spread all over Huanglong County had originated from Yan Liqiang while at the Lu Residence. In the midst of the sea of praise, Yan Liqiang gained some publicity during the banquet. His name was completely made well-known in Huanglong County.

After the banquet, Yan Liqiang then headed back to the Weaponsmiths Quarter with Qian Su. After he finished his nightly practice of Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing, Yan Liqiang went to bed quietly.

However, while Yan Liqiang was indulging in breakfast at the dining hall early next morning, a man who he had never expected to see appeared before him.

...

Zhou Tiezhu’s eyes were red, looking extremely fatigued, his face still bruised and wounded. The first thing he said when he saw Yan Liqiang was, “Liqiang, Master...Master is in trouble!”

The incident occurred yesterday, during the Half Year Festival. When Yan Liqiang was at the Lu Clan, a sudden and unexpected disaster befell the Yan Clan in Liuhe Town.

From Zhou Tiezhu’s brief narration, Yan Liqiang quickly understood what had happened back at home.

Very simply put, it all started with a horseshoe.

Yesterday morning, someone had come to the blacksmith store to have a horseshoe forged. At night, that person came back with a rude and unreasonable attitude, claiming that the horseshoe that he had gotten forged in the morning was ruined by the afternoon of the same day and caused one of his horse’s legs to be broken, so he demanded that Yan Dechang compensate him. Of course, Yan Dechang wasn’t going to comply because he was clearly just trying to extort money, so a dispute broke out between them. The dispute had even barely started when that person suddenly unsheathed a saber and hacked Yan Dechang to the ground. Zhou Tiezhu, who went to help, was also overpowered by that person and sustained a cut on his body.

After injuring them, that person slipped away under the cover of night. Zhou Tiezhu tossed and turned the whole night after he made sure Yan Dechang was stable. He finally recalled that Yan Dechang had secretly told him where Yan Liqiang was, so he hurriedly got onto his horse and rushed to Huanglong County to notify him.

On hearing the news of his father being grievously wounded, Yan Liqiang was instantly enraged. He could feel nothing but the boiling blood in his entire body rushing directly to his head as his whole body trembled. Endless fury surged and burned within Yan Liqiang’s body.

Brother Tiezhu, was that person yesterday from the Hong Clan?” Yan Liqiang’s eyes had turned red, as he asked the question through clenched teeth. He seemed as though he was about to murder someone.

“No. I’ve never seen that person in Liuhe Town before...” Zhou Tiezhu shook his head.

“How’s my father? Who is taking care of him right now?”

“Master is at home. I have already hired a physician, however, Master’s injury is very serious and has been unconscious...” Tears fell from Zhou Tiezhu’s eyes as he continued explaining, “When I made my way here, apart from Mother Wu, I also had my cousin stay by Master’s side to attend to the physician...”

Yan Liqiang shut his eyes and tightly clenched his fists. A few seconds later, he opened his eyes and looked at Qian Su, the look in his eyes had turned extremely determined. “Uncle Qian. Thank you for taking care of me all this time. Something has happened back home so I must return there now...”

Looking at the Yan Liqiang who stood before him, Qian Su knew that it was impossible to convince him to stay in the Weaponsmiths Quarter any longer. He sighed and said, “Go pack up, I’ll get someone to prepare the rhinodrake!”

Yan Liqiang wordlessly turned around and made his way towards his own courtyard with large strides.

The expression on Qian Su’s face was extremely gloomy as he beckoned to Zhou Yong. “Zhou Yong, go order two people to get changed into civilian clothes and escort Yan Liqiang to Liuhe Town. You know what to do right?”

Zhou Yong’s eyes flashed as he cupped his fist in response. “Rest assured, Quarter Master, I know what to do!”

...

Yan Liqiang returned to his small courtyard and packed up his belongings with the fastest speed possible. He carried the bow bag that contained the Python Horned Bow on his back and then left the small building. When he reached the center of the courtyard, he suddenly recalled something and turned around to pick up a quiver of arrows under the canopy of the courtyard and added it to his belongings.

By the time he arrived at the entrance to the Weaponsmiths Quarter, Qian Su was already waiting there with a heavy saddlebag made of ox leather. Qian Su’s gaze inadvertently swept past the quiver of arrows that Yan Liqiang was carrying and then he handed over the saddlebag in his hands to Yan Liqiang. “These are the things you left with me, perhaps they will be useful when you return home!”

Yan Liqiang accepted the saddlebag. Just by weighing it in his hands, he knew that it was the gold that he had accepted from the Lu Clan. It weighed about twenty kilograms or so.

At this time, Zhou Yong and two other soldiers from the Weaponsmiths Quarter led four rhinodrake steeds towards them, dressed in their casual clothes and carrying their sabers and swords.

“Brother Zhou, you all are...”

“Master Yan, if you really treat us like your brothers, then don’t say anything at a time like this!” Zhou Yong said with a solemn face and then shoved a rhinodrake steed’s reins into Yan Liqiang’s hands.

Yan Liqiang was touched deep down in his heart. He only nodded his head and didn’t say anything else.

Zhou Yong and the others were from the regular army. According to the military law of the Great Han Empire, without a transfer order, soldiers of the regular army were not allowed to leave their encampment without permission. They were definitely not allowed to cross over prefectures and counties. Zhou Yong and the rest following him back to the Qinghe County would be a criminal offense if they were found out.

Yan Liqiang knew the other two people that were coming along with Zhou Yong too. The one with the extremely robust body was Liu Gang while the other one that seemed somewhat frightful was Zhao Qifeng. They had both push-wrestled with him that day and had gotten familiar with each other over this period of time.

“Liqiang, I want to return together with you all too...” Zhou Tiezhu came over with his jaw clenched.

Yan Liqiang took a glance at Zhou Tiezhu, who looked extremely exhausted and battered at this point. Putting aside the fact that he was injured yesterday, he hadn’t slept for the whole night and had traveled so far out here on top of that. Blood was already seeping out of the wound on his upper arm that was only roughly dressed yesterday. Fortunately, his body was tempered over these years having followed Yan Dechang and was very sturdy. If he was an ordinary person, he would have collapsed long ago.

“Brother Tiezhu, you won’t be able to last if you travel in your current condition. You should have a rest in the Weaponsmiths Quarter first, eat something, have your wound dressed properly and recuperate before you return. There are still many things back at home that will require Brother Tiezhu’s help. We shall take our leave first...” Yan Liqiang gave a heavy pat on Zhou Tiezhu’s shoulder.

Zhou Tiezhu looked at Yan Liqiang and stopped insisting.

“Uncle Qian, I’ll have to trouble you to take care of Brother Tiezhu!”

“Don’t worry about it!”

Yan Liqiang didn’t say anything else and strapped the saddlebag to the saddle of the rhinodrake steed. He stepped on the stirrup and nimbly mounted. He hung the quiver of arrows on the other side then shook the reins. The rhinodrake steed beneath him was the first to charge out of the Weaponsmiths Quarter with Zhou Yong and the other two following closely behind on their rhinodrake steeds.

In just a flash, the four rhinodrake steeds were on the main road.

“Jiaaa...!” At Yan Liqiang’s yell and the squeeze of his calves, the rhinodrake steed started galloping. The sound of their hooves was like thunder as the four of them energetically charged towards Qinghe County on their steeds.

Qian Su wasn’t staying idle on his side either. After arranging for someone to help Zhou Tiezhu settle in, he also got onto a rhinodrake steed and left the Weaponsmiths Quarter as he made for the Lu Residence...

...

Qinghe County and Huanglong County were adjacent to each other, so naturally, Liuhe Town wasn’t that far from the Weaponsmiths Quarter. They were only about eighty or ninety kilometers apart from each other. It took Yan Liqiang four or five hours to travel from Qinghe County to Huanglong County by boat due to the slow speed and meandering rivers. On the rhinodrake steeds, it only took Yan Liqiang about two hours to lead Zhou Yong and the other two into Liuhe Town.

The impatient galloping sounds of the four rhinodrake steeds’ hooves broke the peacefulness of Liuhe Town, causing the pedestrians to rush to dodge. Those that knew Yan Liqiang stared strangely at the murderous-looking Yan Liqiang who had just returned to Liuhe Town. Each and every one of them was whispering and continuously commenting behind Yan Liqiang’s back.

Yan Liqiang’s face was ashen as he pursed his lips and galloped into the courtyard of his house with Zhou Yong and the others.

The moment they dismounted from their steeds, Mother Wu rushed out from the house. She looked at Yan Liqiang, unable to speak, she could only make gestures with her hands as tears streamed down her face.

Yan Liqiang dashed into the room right after he leaped off his steed.

The room was filled with the concentrated smell of medicinal herbs and reeked of blood. The physician that Zhou Tiezhu had hired and his cousin were both there.

Yan Dechang laid on the bed motionlessly with a pale face and deathly white lips.

“Physician, how’s my father...?”

“There’s a limit to my ability and the injury to your father is unusually severe. I fear that he won’t be able to last longer than a few days...” The physician shook his head with a troubled look on his face and then sighed.

The color immediately drained from Yan Liqiang’s face. He walked to the bedside and knelt down, tightly clasping the coarse palm of Yan Dechang with both of his hands. His eyes reddened and his voice quivered, “Father, I’ve returned...”

Yan Dechang’s eyelids that had been shut all this time trembled a few times when he heard Yan Liqiang’s voice before they slowly opened. He forced a small smile on his face and said weakly. “I’m... fine... Didn’t... I ask... you to... ask Uncle Qian to arrange for someone to send you to the county town... county town’s... martial art academy... on the martial arts examination day? It’s... dangerous here... why have... you returned... here...?”

Even at a time like this, Yan Dechang wasn’t thinking about himself but instead, he was still concerned about Yan Liqiang’s safety.

Yan Liqiang’s tears suddenly started rolling off his cheeks...

Yan Dechang was still in a partially unconscious state at this very moment. His body would be cold in this instant minute and be very hot in the very next. After exchanging a few words with Yan Liqiang just now, he lost his consciousness again.

Looking at his father falling unconscious, Yan Liqiang flipped open the blanket and saw the wounds that were on his father’s body. Yan Liqiang trembled when he saw the wounds.

Yan Dechang had been stabbed twice. One was on his left shoulder, which was so deep that his bone could be seen and there was one on his chest. The wound on his chest was about one chi long and it ran all the way from his chest down to his lower abdomen, almost slicing the front of Yan Dechang’s body into half.

The bandages wrapped around Yan Dechang’s wounds were all soaked with blood that was seeping out. Even the mattress under Yan Dechang was half-dyed with his fresh blood.

If it wasn’t for Yan Dechang’s sturdy body, an ordinary person would have been long gone after sustaining injuries like this.

In all honesty, Yan Liqiang was like a volcano that was about to erupt at this moment. He was hungry to kill someone. But Yan Liqiang had to calm himself down because if he didn’t, it would really be over for Yan Dechang.

The incident had occurred yesterday. Zhou Tiezhu himself was injured too. He looked for the physician in the town and his cousin. It really wasn’t easy for him to do what he had done.

When Yan Liqiang walked out of the room with a grave expression, everyone else gathered around. For the first time ever, Yan Liqiang felt the pressure of responsibility on his shoulders under everyone’s gazes.

“Brother Hongda! I’ve troubled you today...” Yan Liqiang squeezed out a small smile at Zhou Tiezhu’s cousin. Yan Liqiang was grateful in his heart to those who had came to his house to lend a helping hand during this period of time.

Zhou Hongda was Zhou Tiezhu’s cousin. He was also from Liuhe Town and was an honest person. He and his wife owned a small restaurant in town that usually served breakfast. They were selling noodles as a small business. He used to come to Yan Liqiang’s family blacksmith workshop to look for Zhou Tiezhu before. Thus he was no stranger to them as well.

“I did what I was supposed to do. Master Yan is such a nice person. He usually doesn’t accept any money from the villagers for fixing their farming tools. Who would have thought that there would be someone who would act so ruthless towards Master Yan...” Zhou Hongda said in anger.

“I need another favor from Brother Hongda!”

“Please say it!”

“There are quite a number of people in the house these few days. I’m hope that Brother Hongda and your wife could temporarily halt your business for a couple of days to help out at the Yan Residence by doing grocery shopping everyday to cook and take care of everyone’s three meals at the residence!” Yan Liqiang said while he passed a gold bar over into Zhou Hongda’s hand, “This is for the food expenses for these few days. I won’t let Brother Hongda pay for it...”

One of the reasons Zhou Hongda had came over to help was for the sake of Zhou Tiezhu. Another reason was that he was indeed somewhat a warm-hearted person as well. When he heard Yan Liqiang’s request, he felt a little troubled. However, that troubled feeling vanished within the blink of an eye when he held that heavy gold bar in his hand which caused his heart to race. “Sure! I’ll go get my wife to come and help now...”

“Brother Hongda! Try to buy fresh vegetables for the Yan Residence for these few days and be more cautious with the meat!” Yan Liqiang reminded.

Zhou Hongda was also a merchant of a small business. He naturally knew about Yan Liqiang’s concerns after such an incident had occurred at the Yan Residence. He nodded, “I know. Rest assured, Liqiang. I won’t let anyone mess around here. I will buy the freshest food for the Yan Residence to eat these few days. I will buy the vegetables from acquaintances and I will also buy the animals alive.”

Yan Liqiang nodded his head, “Then I’ll leave this in Brother Hongda’s hands!”

“It’s no problem...” Zhou Hongda left the Yan Residence with the money to look for his wife to help out the Yan Residence.

Yan Liqiang settled the expenses with the town’s physician who was in the Yan Residence right after that. Then the town’s physician left as well.

Yan Liqiang took another gold bar and gave it to Zhao Jifeng who had come over with him, “Brother Zhao! I’ll have to trouble you to take a trip toJirentang Medical Hall in eastern street of Qinghe County. The physicians in Jirentang Medical Hall are some of the most famous in Qinghe County for treating knife wounds. Please invite Physician Hong to come!”

Zhao Jifeng, who had come with Zhou Yong, gave Yan Liqiang a nod. He accepted the gold bar, then turned around and left the Yan Residence on the rhinodrake steed again and made his way towards Qinghe County at lightning speed.

Yan Liqiang took another gold bar again and gave it to Zhou Yong and Liu Gang, “Brother Zhou! Brother Liu! Go to Guo Clan’s liquor shop in town and buy fifty jin worth of alcohol. Then, go to Qing Yun textiles in town to buy fifty jin of white gauze...”

As soon as Zhou Yong and Liu Gang took the gold bar, they nodded their heads and left without saying a word.

Yan Liqiang then talked to Mother Wu and had her boil two pots of hot water in the kitchen.

In Yan Liqiang’s memories, the development of medical science of this world was somewhat similar to ancient China. However, there was a difference as well. The similarity was that both were using the traditional chinese medical methods and the difference was that the medical science in this world had improved in certain aspects. For instance, this included surgery as well as the refinement of some peculiar pills.

The physician whom Zhou Tiezhu hired from the town stitched the wounds on Yan Dechang’s body by using catgut. In addition to that, he sterilized the wounds with alcohol. Many physicians from ancient China couldn’t perform this. It was rumored that Hua Tuo [1] was capable of doing this, but he unfortunately did not pass this knowledge down.

Yan Liqiang was actually feeling a little lost right now. He wasn’t sure what he could actually do. At this moment, the only thing he could think of was the story of Florence Nightingale: The Lady with the Lamp [2]. In terms of medical treatment, he couldn’t help as he was not a doctor in his previous world and he wasn’t well versed on medicinal treatment texts. Those memories in his head weren’t very helpful right now. But he knew that a good physician and meticulous nursing care would definitely increase Yan Dechang’s chances survival.

Within the blink of an eye, almost everyone was busy.

Yan Liqiang stayed in the room and stared at Yan Dechang who was lying on the bed with his eyes tightly shut. He lowered his head and agonizingly buried his face in his palms feeling remorseful. He never thought that when he was passing his days safely in the Weaponsmiths Quarter, Yan Dechang who was staying in Liuhe Town would encounter this kind of tragedy. Although there was no evidence to indicate that the person was sent by the Hong Clan yet, Yan Liqiang had a feeling that the person who had slashed Yan Dechang was possibly the person whom he sensed. That person had hidden himself and secretly peeked at him at the entrance of Weaponsmiths Quarter on that day.

This past month he stayed at the Weaponsmiths Quarter, leaving no chance for that person to lay a finger on him. As a result, that person returned to Liuhe Town and made this incident happen with the intention of forcing him to come back. That person would only have the opportunity to harm him with his return while away from the Weaponsmiths Quarter.

This was an evil scheme. If he didn’t come back and neglected Yan Dechang’s life or death, then certain people would be able to pin his “shortcoming in filial piety” on him and everything would really be over for him. In the Great Han Empire, being unfilial towards one’s parents was a very serious crime and it was despised and condemned by most. If someone “lacked filial piety”, then that person would more or less become a public enemy in society and his existence would be spurned by others. He would immediately be banned from the preliminary exam and even if he could become a Martial Warrior in the future, it would be difficult for him to become a government official.

Translator Notes:

[1] Hua Tuo, Yuanhua, was an ancient Chinese physician who lived in the late Eastern Han dynasty. Besides being respected for his expertise in surgery and anesthesia, Hua Tuo was famous for his abilities in acupuncture, moxibustion, herbal medicine and medical Daoyin exercises. He developed the Wuqinxi (Exercise of the Five Animals) from studying movements of the tiger, deer, bear, ape, and crane.

[2] Florence Nightingale was an English social reformer statistician, and the founder of modern nursing. She gave nursing a highly favourable reputation and became an icon of Victorian culture, especially in the persona of “The Lady with the Lamp” making rounds of wounded soldiers at night.

Zhou Hongda and his wife were the first to return to the Yan Residence with the vegetables and food they bought. As soon as they both arrived, they started cooking before Yan Liqiang even needed to say anything.

Soon after, Zhou Yong and Liu Qiang also returned with some gauze and the alcohol they bought, and Yan Liqiang got to work too. He placed the purchased gauze into a big pot at the blacksmith workshop, boiling them for sterilization. After that, he hung them out in the courtyard, air-drying them to store later on, then went to change Yan Dechang’s bedsheets with fresh, clean ones.

By noontime, Zhao Qifeng returned at last, along with Physician Hong from Jirentang Medical Hall, which operated on the eastern street of the Qinghe County’s town.

As the saying goes: ‘When a high reward is offered, the brave fellows are bound to come forward’. Yan Liqiang had really spent a fortune. Physician Hong had come to the Yan Residence and was doing his best to treat Yan Dechang.

When it came to treating wounds caused by sabers and swords, Physician Hong’s trump cards were the two types of medicine that he had personally concocted. One of them was a translucent salve to be applied to the wound. It was said that the salve could speed up the rate the wound healed and dulled the pain. The other type was a dark red-colored medicinal pill. Physician Hong said that after the pill was ingested with water, it replenished the person’s Qi and blood loss.

Using the two different methods at the same time, Yan Liqiang changed the salve on Yan Dechang’s wound and fed him the medicinal pill. He soon discovered that Yan Dechang’s deathly pale lips were finally regaining their color and that his breathing had also stabilized slightly. Yan Liqiang couldn’t help but feel a lot calmer in his heart.

Just like in his past life, a Grade A county hospital may not necessarily be able to treat the ailments that a village hospital couldn’t treat. However, a Grade 3A hospital [1] might be able to treat the ailments that a Grade A county hospital couldn’t treat. Everyone had different levels of capability. Thus different doctors would have different judgments. Just because the physicians in town who’d arrived earlier had lacked the ability to help, that didn’t mean it was the same for other physicians.

By noontime and after everyone had their lunch, the sounds of horse carriages rang out again from the garden outside of the Yan Residence. Yan Liqiang, Zhou Yong and the rest came out of the courtyard and saw Qian Su, Lu Peien, Zhou Tiezhu and Lu Wenbin, as well as seven or eight guards from the Lu Clan, all of which had arrived on rhinodrake steeds.

“Uncle Qian, Sixth Master...” Yan Liqiang hurriedly welcomed them.

Yan Liqiang wasn’t surprised that Qian Su had turned up. Any grudges between him and his father had long been put to rest the moment he arrived at the Weaponsmiths Quarter. However, Yan Liqiang hadn’t expected the Lu Clan to send someone over too. Furthermore, the person who came was the Sixth Master of the Lu Clan, along with his steward and guards. He was quite an influential figure within the Lu Clan. Yan Liqiang took a look at the few people that the Lu Clan had brought and discovered that at least two of them, both with calm demeanors and keen eyes, seemed to be experts.

When these people arrived at the Liuhe Town on their rhinodrake steeds, they had already alarmed many folks in town. Even at this moment, there were a fair amount of people poking their heads around to take a look inside the Yan Residence’s courtyard.

“How’s Dechang?” Qian Su, who seemed a little exhausted from his journey, grabbed Yan Liqiang’s arm and questioned him as soon as he leaped off his horse.

“I have just found a physician from the county town to try their medicine on Father. Father seems to be doing slightly better than he was this morning...”

“Let’s go into the room. I hope we are not too late...” Lu Peien murmured.

Yan Liqiang shot a look at Qian Su and saw the signal in his eyes. Yan Liqiang nodded and led the two of them into Yan Dechang’s room. The others tactfully stayed outside and didn’t follow them inside.

Qian Su’s eyes turned red when he saw Yan Dechang lying on the bed. Lu Peien checked Yan Dechang’s breath and pulse, then assessed his dressed wound. He then breathed out a long sigh of relief, and his tense and solemn face finally relaxed. He nodded at Yan Liqiang, “Good, it seems like we’re not too late. We managed to make it in time by rushing over. It’s all thanks to Brother Qian promptly informing the Lu Clan that something had happened at Young Master Yan’s home!”

“What do you mean by that, Sixth Master?”

Lu Peien smiled and then fished out a cloth from his chest. He unwrapped the cloth, revealing an item half a fist in size, that was fully sealed in wax. Beneath the layer of wax that he scraped off was a box made from white jade. He opened the jade box, which contained a fiery red medicinal pill about as large as a dragon’s eye. At the same time, a sudden wave of a strange fragrance permeated the air in the room.

The scent was light and ethereal. Just one breath of it made one feel invigorated and refreshed.

Yan Liqiang’s eyes widened all of a sudden. In that very moment, even an idiot would know that the medicinal pill was definitely unusual. “Sixth Master, t-this... What kind of medicinal pill is this?”

“This is a Revival Pill from the Lu Clan’s collection. It is the world’s most famous panacea. Legend has it that as long as the person still breathes, and their heart still beats, then consuming this Revival Pill will bring him back from the brink of death. This pill is a gift from an old friend of the Old Master on his sixtieth birthday. That old friend of his is an inner disciple of one of the four major sects, the Soul Mountain Sect. He obtained this panacea for all his past contributions to that sect!” Lu Peien gave Yan Liqiang a meaningful glance. “As soon as the Old Master heard that something had happened at Young Master Yan’s home, he immediately sent me on my way with this Revival Pill...”

“I call the Heaven and Earth as witnesses today. I, Yan Liqiang, swear to remember the great kindness shown by the Lu Clan and Old Master Lu for as long as I live, and I will certainly repay this kindness one day!” Yan Liqiang solemnly swore as he cupped his fist towards Lu Peien. He was so emotional that his eyes flowed with tears.

Without having one’s family sink into a similarly hopeless situation, there was no way for a person to experience how it felt to be helped during a time of great need–like being given charcoal during a snowstorm. In that moment, he wouldn’t just repay their act of kindness–Yan Liqiang was willing to sell himself off as a slave to the Lu Clan if it meant saving Yan Dechang.

Lu Peien watched Yan Liqiang’s emotional face with a resolute expression. “Young Master Yan saved the life of a Lu Clan member back then. How can the Lu Clan possibly stand by and do nothing when the Yan Clan is in trouble now?”

“Liqiang, stop being courteous. You can thank him later. Let’s get your father to take this Revival Pill first. The most important thing is to let him recover as soon as possible!” Qian Su, who was standing at the side, spoke up.

“Right, right, right. Uncle Qian is right indeed!” Yan Liqiang wiped his tears away and asked Lu Peien. “How should this Revival Pill be consumed? Should I go fetch some water?”

“No need for water. Young Master Yan only has to prop your father up, tilt his head and open his mouth!”

Upon hearing Lu Peien’s instructions, Yan Liqiang carefully propped Yan Dechang up into a sitting position and had him lean against his chest. He then gently squeezed Yan Dechang’s mouth open.

Lu Peien picked up the Revival Pill from its jade box and placed it in front of Yan Dechang’s mouth. He then retrieved a tiny jade needle from the box and lightly pricked the Revival Pill. In just a split second, a trickle of glistening verdant liquid, as thick as a strand of hair, flowed out from the Revival Pill and dripped into Yan Dechang’s mouth. The moment the liquid trickled out, the fragrance in the entire room was instantly amplified by severalfold.

As the liquid drained, the Revival Pill shrunk down until it ended up looking like a deflated balloon. Lu Peien gently returned the red pill’s outer layer of skin, as thick as a cicada’s wing, into the jade box.

With care, Yan Liqiang once again laid Yan Dechang back onto the bed, unblinkingly observing his condition.

As miraculous as it sounded, a rosy color gradually returned to Yan Dechang’s pale face in less than two minutes after he consumed the liquid from that Revival Pill. His breathing had also become smoother and more stable.

Yan Liqiang’s heart, which had been gripped with suspense, finally seemed to settle into his stomach in that moment.

“Your father will wake up in as early as two hours, or four hours at the most after consuming this Revival Pill. His body will slowly recover as long as he rests properly. The skin of the pill in this jade box isn’t just any ordinary item. You can dissolve this layer of skin in hot water and let your father drink it after he is fully awake. It will speed up his complete recovery!” Lu Peien handed over the jade box in his hands to Yan Liqiang as he explained.

Yan Liqiang didn’t say anything. He only clasped his hands together and gave Lu Peien a very deep bow.

...

The three of them exited the room. When those who had stayed outside the room heard that Yan Dechang was safe after consuming the panacea, all of them cheered up. The tense atmosphere in the Yan Residence had instantly broken.

“Master is a great person. I knew he’d definitely be safe. Definitely be safe...” Zhou Tiezhu smiled while he wiped his tears away, feeling just as emotional.

“Brother Tiezhu, let us go to the living room. I have some questions I’d like to ask you!”

Yan Liqiang assigned two people to guard the entrance to Yan Dechang’s bedroom and to monitor the inside of the room for a while. He then called Zhou Tiezhu to the living room at the side and inquired about yesterday’s incident in detail, particularly on the facial features of the person who had hacked at both Yan Dechang and Zhou Tiezhu.

Zhou Tiezhu was able to recount the incident tirelessly and clearly, without leaving out any details. As for that person’s appearance, it was very difficult to give a clear description just through words. Zhou Tiezhu could only recall the person’s most prominent facial features, which were his slanted eyes and the black mole on his left cheek. As for the rest of his face, even if he could describe it with words, other people might not be able to picture it in their minds.

His inability to clearly describe the appearance of that person frustrated Zhou Tiezhu so much that he was covered in sweat.

‘A pair of slanted eyes and a black mole on their face’. To search for a person with such minimal information, it was like searching for a needle in the ocean.

Upon seeing Zhou Tiezhu having difficulty in describing that person’s appearance, Yan Liqiang had them wait for him in the living room as he went off to the kitchen. A few minutes later, he returned with a wooden board about a square foot in size, a charcoal core that had been peeled in his hands, along with a small erasing knife.

As Zhou Tiezhu described the person’s facial features, Yan Liqiang drew on the wooden board with the charcoal core while scraping with the small knife at the same time, continuously making changes on his drawing until a distinct sketch of a human face gradually formed on the wooden surface.

When Yan Liqiang made the final stroke with his hand, Zhou Tiezhu’s eyes instantly reddened like that of a fighting bull when he saw the sinister face that finally appeared on the wooden board. He pointed at the portrait that Yan Liqiang drew and hissed through his clenched teeth. “That’s him, that’s him! That’s the person who hacked at Master yesterday...!”

Beside them, Qian Su and Lu Peien had been left dumbstruck for quite some time upon seeing the extremely vivid face being drawn onto the wooden board. They were looking at Yan Liqiang in awe, as if he was an immortal...

Putting aside Lu Peien, the current Yan Liqiang was even more amazing in Qian Su’s eyes compared to the time he had witnessed his auspicious form passing the Horse Stance stage.

Had such a ‘supreme drawing skill’ appeared in this world before...?

In his past life, the first job that Yan Liqiang had earned money from was as an artist. He had grown up in an orphanage back then and began learning how to draw on his own when he was eight years old. As it happened, there was a teacher in the orphanage who knew how to draw, so they instructed him in practicing still life drawings as well as portraits. After going through five years worth of blood, sweat, and tears, Yan Liqiang was finally capable of carrying a canvas on his back, setting up a booth at the park or the streetsides to earn money from drawing portraits of people. He started doing this when he was thirteen years old. Drawing one portrait would earn him 20 yuan.

On the year he turned fifteen, while he was setting up shop in the park one weekend morning, he caught sight of an old man, who had come to do his morning exercise, fainting by the roadside. He didn’t hesitate to call an ambulance, sending the old man to the hospital. As the saying goes, ‘one good turn deserves another’. Afterwards, once the old man regained consciousness, the old man did not wrong him. Instead, after finding out that Yan Liqiang knew how to draw, he taught him how to draw portraits accurately in accordance to another person’s description. That old man turned out to be a criminal sketch artist for the provincial public security department and was a first-class expert in that field. Yan Liqiang learned from the old man for a few years, and received all his teachings. He managed to gain a solid grasp of his techniques in that area and even surpassed the teacher as a result. Later on, the old man had even wanted to recommend Yan Liqiang to work in the public security department as a criminal sketch artist too. But Yan Liqiang was in the prime of his youth at the time; he still had a lot of dreams and goals to achieve in the future so he wasn’t satisfied with a stable and peaceful occupation which would earn him a couple of thousand yuan a month for a lifetime. Thus, he chose not to work at the public security department and had instead, chosen the more difficult path of making a living with more opportunities.

Yan Liqiang himself never expected that the skills he’d learned in his past life could be put to use here.

To be the only one in the world with such a skill, with no others bearing the same skillset–it was an ability that would naturally have everyone on their feet once it was exhibited.

This was because the painters and artists of this world were accustomed to ink and wash forms of painting. Ink and wash painting paid particular attention to the artistic mood and vividness of the subject. It was the kind of state and comprehension which could only be grasped intuitively–to be sensed but not to be expressed in words. All ink and wash paintings had the artist’s personality drawn into it. It was an exhibition of the painter’s inner world. Even though line-drawing techniques existed in ink and wash painting, portraits drawn using brushes were completely incomparable to Yan Liqiang’s type of portraits. After all, he had especially trained himself to reach the standards of a criminal sketch artist in his past life.

The portrait drawn by a criminal sketch artist didn’t pay attention to vividness, artistic mood or any form of spiritual comprehension and experience. Instead, it was all about accuracy! To be able to draw the portrait to attain the quality of a photograph as well as to accurately and unmistakably reveal the appearances of the suspect–that was the highest realm that could be attained!

“Liqiang, when did you learn how to do this?” Qian Su stared at Yan Liqiang in amazement. “You were actually able to use a charcoal core to draw out such a realistic appearance of a man based on just a description. Such a skill is simply marvelous!”

Standing at the side, Lu Peien remained silent. He took the wooden board from Yan Liqiang’s hands and studied it carefully in his grasp. As he looked at the painting in hand, he shot a look of wonder at Yan Liqiang. “Clever! Wonderful! Marvelous! Such a skill has never been seen before. It’s unheard of...”

The surrounding crowd also moved closer. Every single one of them was all struck dumb when they saw the portrait drawn by Yan Liqiang.

“It looks like him! The resemblance is uncanny! The person in the painting almost looks alive...” Zhou Yong felt such respect for Yan Liqiang’s painting on the wooden board that he was practically prostrating himself with admiration. A martial warrior like Zhou Yong didn’t have anything more elegant to say than ‘alive!’. This was already the best praise he could think of.

“Uncle Qian, I myself am unsure when I learned this. Perhaps this skill was taught to me in my dreams...” said Yan Liqiang calmly. Since he had already used this excuse before, what harm was there in using it again?

Last time, Yan Liqiang had explained that he’d learned the method to save the kid from within a dream, but people like Qian Su and Lu Peien wouldn’t normally accept such a claim at face value. It was merely because they didn’t want to delve further since they thought Yan Liqiang must have encountered it by chance or by coincidence. But now, after Yan Liqiang explained that he’d learned this drawing skill from his dreams as well, both Qian Su and Lu Peien exchanged speechless glances with each other as they started to question their earlier decision. Could it be that Yan Liqiang was truly able to meet a deity in his dreams and was bestowed with this opportunity? Otherwise, how could such unimaginable painting skills that had never appeared in this world, emerge from a young man who had never held a painting brush before?

Lu Peien muttered dubiously to himself for a moment before he spoke to Yan Liqiang, “The perpetrator is vicious and merciless, and his methods are savage. He’s definitely not a good man. Now that we know what he looks like, how about I bring this painting to Huanglong County’s Law Enforcement Office and check the pictures of major wanted criminals to see if any of them share similar features to this one? It will make it easier for us to verify the perpetrator’s identity as well as issue a document to capture and arrest the criminal...”

“Why is there a need to go to Huanglong County? Isn’t there one in Qinghe County...?” Yan Liqiang was caught off-guard.

Lu Peien glanced at Qian Su, who in turn, gazed at Zhou Tiezhu who held a look of resentment on his face. “After master was met with this mishap yesterday, I went to the county’s Law Enforcement Office to report the case to the authorities, but the officer of the county’s Law Enforcement Office said this was a business dispute between the Yan Clan and the customer. So this wasn’t considered a ‘case’ and therefore nothing they’d be concerned with. He wanted us to resolve it on our own. I was so angry that I ended up arguing with them. Those officers even said that if we’re going to stir up trouble, they would instead investigate our Yan Clan’s workshop for making such a low-quality horseshoe that it broke the horse’s leg, that they’d demand we pay the compensation fee to the other man before they tried looking for him...”

Previously, Yan Liqiang was in a hurry to go home, so Zhou Tiezhu barely had time to explain everything in detail to him.

Yan Liqiang hadn’t expected such a thing as ‘no case-filing’ would also exist in this world. In his past life, only the officials would spout such words, causing a large number of people to have nobody to turn to for their injustices and with nowhere to go to cleanse away the hatred in their hearts. Just these two words alone had unknowingly covered up countless hidden crimes and filth, allowing innumerable demons and monsters colluding together to run amuck in the world without any scruples. Even if a person were killed, or an underaged girl raped, should you, the victim’s family, try to file a case, then as long as the official said ‘no case-filing’, even if the perpetrator was devoid of conscience and was worse than a dog, it wasn’t considered as breaking the law. Regardless of how major the injustice was, that was still wrecking havoc without reason. The so-called ‘truth and justice’, ‘law and sanctity’, the feelings of the people, they were nothing but a joke before these two light words.

A dark situation had befallen him, the most unjust since he’d arrived; his father had almost been hacked to death by some man, and yet the Law Enforcement Office stood on the perpetrator’s side without budging and had instead chosen to fling bogus accusations at them. Yan Liqiang instantly flushed red with fury, practically seething with anger.

After he calmed down, only then did Yan Liqiang recall that Hong Tao’s uncle from the Hong Clan seemed to be working at the Qinghe County’s Law Enforcement Office. No wonder they had banded together.

However, even if the Hong Clan could extend their hold over at the Law Enforcement Office of Qinghe County, they weren’t able to reach out to the Law Enforcement Office of Huanglong County. In Huanglong County, the Lu Clan’s influence was completely on a different level than the Hong Clan.

Once he understood these facts, Yan Liqiang sucked in a deep breath of air. He cupped his fists at Lu Peien. “Then I shall trouble Sixth Master...”

“No trouble. It’s no trouble at all! There’s no time to lose. If you’re sure that this man is our wanted criminal, we can request the Law Enforcement Office of Huanglong County to report directly to the prefectural city’s Law Enforcement Office so they can issue a document to make the arrest...” said Lu Peien unscrupulously. “After being commanded to do so by the authorities, Qinghe County’s Law Enforcement Office won’t be able to shirk their responsibilities. That culprit surely won’t be able to act as recklessly as before. This matter should not be delayed, so I’ll head back to Huanglong County first and verify this man’s identity. Even if he’s not a wanted criminal, our Lu Clan can still find someone to ask around for anyone who might know this person!”

Lu Peien stood as he spoke, getting ready to leave with the portrait drawn by Yan Liqiang. Yan Liqiang escorted him out of the residence.

“I’ll let Steward Lu stay behind, along with two guards from the Lu Clan. If Young Master Yan has anything that needs to be done, you can inform Steward Lu to handle it on your behalf!”

Yan Liqiang nodded his head. Lu Peien then handed Yan Liqiang’s drawing on the wooden board to the guard accompanying him and requested him to pack it carefully in a cloth, strapping it to his back. Soon after, he then brought along four attendants and went off on their rhinodrake steeds.

...

The Revival Pill brought by the Lu Clan was undisputedly miraculous. After a mere two hours had passed, Yan Dechang, who had lain unmoving up till then, finally regained consciousness. His complexion was also far better than how it looked that morning.

After Yan Dechang woke up, the Revival Pill’s skin was then dissolved in water for him to drink. After resting for a while, Yan Dechang became more spirited and could actually converse with the others. Upon seeing this scene, Yan Liqiang finally placed his worries at rest and was incredibly grateful towards the Lu Clan.

...

Both Qian Su and Zhou Yong stayed until it was almost sunset, then ate their dinner before bidding Yan Liqiang goodbye. Zhou Young and the rest were regular soldiers. Although they were dressed casually, it would become an issue should they stay at the Yan Residence for too long. Now that the Lu Clan had assigned a couple of men to guarantee the safety of the Yan Residence, and Yan Dechang was out of harm’s way, Qian Su was the first to leave, with Zhou Yong and the rest in tow.

Yan Liqiang personally escorted Qian Su to the outskirts of Liuhe Town.

“Liqiang, do you know why the Lu Clan took out the Revival Pill from their collection today? You should know that the Revival Pill is not just any ordinary medicine. If you placed it in the prefectural city’s auction house, you might get bids worth thousands of pieces of gold,” Qian Su said to Yan Liqiang, when they were finally alone together.

Yan Liqiang muttered, “I won’t conceal the truth from Uncle Qian. It was indeed out of my expectations that the Lu Clan would take out their Revival Pill. Although I did save a Lu Clan family member, they’ve already given me gold, which should count as repaying the favor. The Lu Clan’s favor today is too heavy to bear, I don’t know how to even begin paying them back!”

“You’re a bright man. When we went to celebrate the Half Year Festival at the Lu Residence yesterday, I’m sure you understood why you encountered the Ninth Lady at Lotus Flower Lake, even though you didn’t say it outright.”

Yan Liqiang didn’t feign his ignorance anymore. “I just don’t understand why Old Master Lu would have such thoughts. In terms of the Lu Clan’s aspects and family background, they completely outclass me. I’m seriously flattered!”

“When I went to the Lu Residence today and informed Old Master Lu of what happened with your family, I also told him about your auspicious form when you’d passed the Horse Stance stage. Naturally, the Lu Clan would consider such a son-in-law worthy of being offered their major assets in order to win him over. At the very least, even if you didn’t end up as the Lu Clan’s son-in-law, you’re still worth the Lu Clan’s investment as a youth with boundless prospects–someone who’s destined to advance as a Warrior in the future. You’ll be doing a huge favor to the Lu Clan!”

So this was the truth all along!

Yan Liqiang nodded, “I finally understand!”

“It’s good that you understand!” Qian Su turned to cast a glance at Liuhe Town. He then softened his tone. “Liqiang, just the Hong Clan in Liuhe Town was enough to almost ruin your family. Have you thought of the reason why? In this world, the so-called principles of truth and justice are just nonsense. In the end, everyone compares pure strength. People will obey whoever has that power. Those with similar strengths can probably negotiate with each other, while those without strength can only be pushed around like wooden puppets. What is ‘strength’? Money, land, people, relationships, and even fists all count as strength. The reason why the Lu Clan fancies you is because of the strength you’ve exhibited, as well as your future potential. Your future prospects are limitless, and becoming a Martial Warrior won’t be the end for you. It’s only the beginning. If you have the Lu Clan backing you, you’ll be like a tiger that has grown wings, and you’ll be able to obtain more achievements after you became a Martial Warrior. Perhaps you will perceive this point better after you’ve become a Martial Warrior in the future. This is also the reason why I wanted to match you up with the Lu Clan’s young miss!”

Qian Su gazed at the silent Yan Liqiang. “I’ve seen the Lu Clan’s young miss before. Although she’s older than you by a few years, her appearance and talents are considered the cream of the crop. Carefully think about it on your own. Take what just happened today; if your Yan Clan was linked to the Lu Clan through marriage, do you think the Hong Clan would still dare to use such methods against the Yan Clan?”

“Rest assured, Uncle Qian. This won’t happen again in the future.” The expression on Yan Liqiang’s face was as calm as iron. “I’ll give ample thought about Miss Lu.”

Qian Su gazed fixedly at Yan Liqiang. “Then that’s good!”

Yan Liqiang drew in a deep breath of air after Qian Su and Zhou Yong left. He then turned to walk towards his home.

The setting sun was similar to a red-darkened cloud. In the midst of the afterglow of the setting sun, the entire Liuhe Town was dyed a shade of crimson.

Yan Liqiang glanced coldly at where the Hong Clan’s courtyard was situated, his lips tightly pursed. The reddish light which shrouded the Yan Residence was akin to blood in Yan Liqiang’s eyes...

After consuming the Revival Pill, Yan Dechang’s body got better day by day. By the fifth day, Yan Dechang was able to at least get off the bed by himself and walk with the aid of his cane even though he still struggled in his movements.

Over those few days, the Yan Clan had undoubtedly become the focal point in Liuhe Town. Putting aside everything else, not many people in Liuhe Town had seen the imposing aura from Lu Wenbin and the two guards from the Lu Clan before. Since there were no such things as ‘leak-proof’ walls in this world, the people of Liuhe Town found out Steward Lu and the others were from the great Lu Clan of Huanglong County just after a few days of their stay in the Yan Residence. As for the fact that Yan Clan managed to form ties with the Lu Clan, many were quite jealous and envious, hence, there were quite a few rumors and slanders floating about town.

One of the most exaggerated rumor was that Yan Liqiang had sold himself to the Lu Clan as a slave of his own accord so that the Lu Clan would send people to the Yan Residence to strengthening their influence. Yan Liqiang had laughed disdainfully when he found out about this rumor from Zhou Hongda’s wife.

Over those few days when Yan Dechang was bedridden, Yan Liqiang stayed at home and took care of him every day. He willingly supported Yan Dechang when he had to defecate or urinate, wiped him down and fed him without any complaints. He never requested help from anyone else either. His actions greatly impressed Steward Lu, who stayed at the Yan Residence, so much that he couldn’t help but to secretly admire him.

On the seventh day, information finally came from the Lu Clan. Through the Lu Clan’s efforts, the identity of the culprit who had injured Yan Dechang was finally confirmed.

That person was a wanted criminal in the Great Han Empire for over ten years. No more useful clues could be found among the records and archives of recent years in the Law Enforcement Office of Huanglong County. In the end, the Lu Clan had to make use of their connections before they finally found information on that person among the wanted criminal records in the Law Enforcement Office in Pingxi Prefecture.

That person was known as Deng Long, nicknamed King Cobra. He was a vicious and merciless serial killer on the run. He was wanted because he had robbed and killed in other prefectures over more than a decade ago, taking more than ten innocent lives. However, he had never been apprehended because of his cunning behavior and that he had kept wandering around, drifting from place to place.

If it wasn’t for Yan Liqiang’s drawing, the Law Enforcement Office probably wouldn’t know that this fugitive had already fled into Pingxi Prefecture.

After the identity of that person had been confirmed, the Law Enforcement Office in Pingxi Prefecture sent official notices to every county, ordering them to track down this wanted criminal. Upon receiving the official document from the higher-ups, only then the people of the Law Enforcement Office in Qinghe County put on the pretense of visiting the Yan Residence to further understand the incident that had occurred that day. After that, they stuck a wanted criminal portrait that looked totally unlike that person on the streets and then forgot about the whole thing.

Even though Yan Liqiang had been taking care of Yan Dechang at home over those few days, he didn’t slack on his cultivation either.

He slept in the room adjacent to Yan Dechang. Every night when Yan Dechang was asleep or resting, Yan Liqiang would cultivate Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing in his own room. He still maintained his cultivation practice of at least six rounds a day, without fail.

For those few days, Zhou Hongda and his wife had been doing the cooking at the Yan Residence while the people from the Lu Clan guarded the courtyard and Steward Lu took care of the various chores. Apart from looking after Yan Dechang, Yan Liqiang was able to fully focus on his cultivation, making improvements every single day.

In particular was the secret manual, the ‘Nine Palace Wind Shadow Steps’, that Qian Su had given to him. Yan Liqiang was able to get a better feel of it after dabbling in it for a few consecutive days. In just a few days, Yan Liqiang had a feeling that he had grasped the realm of the first layer of the ‘Nine Palace Wind Shadow Steps’.

At the same time, Yan Liqiang realized that his perception in every aspect was also getting sharper along with the cultivation of Muscle Changing Tendon. Every day during the daytime, he could feel himself being watched and spied on despite the fact that he was staying at home. This sensation was exactly the same as how he felt when he was outside of the Weaponsmiths Quarter’s entrance that day and it would only vanish late at night.

Although it might have sounded a little unbelievable, Yan Liqiang’s intuition kept telling him that King Cobra had always been around him. He didn’t escape, even if a warrant had been issued for his arrest. But instead, he was like a venomous snake, hiding in the dark and ready to strike him down at any time. The nickname ‘King Cobra’ itself was another name for Ophiophagus hannah, a species of venomous snake.

Since King Cobra never left, it was evident that the Hong Clan hadn’t given up on their plan as the martial arts examination drew near.

Yan Liqiang finally made his decision!

...

On the fourteenth night of the sixth lunar month, about an hour past midnight, Yan Liqiang, who was sleeping in the room adjacent to Yan Dechang, opened his eyes.

The clouds were very dense, obscuring the stars and the moon. It was so pitch black outside that visibility was very limited.

Yan Liqiang got up and fully dressed in black. He then slung the bow bag with the Horned Python Bow on his back and picked up a quiver of arrows before he silently exited the room.

As soon as he pushed open his door and stepped out, a soft voice called to him from the side. “Young Master Yan...”

The Lu Clan guard who was outside in the courtyard on night duty was very vigilant; Yan Liqiang had been discovered as soon as he stepped out.

Seeing Yan Liqiang’s black get-up along with the bow and quiver he was carrying, a surprised look emerged on the face of the Lu Clan guard.

Yan Liqiang placed his finger in front of his lips to hush him and that guard immediately understood. He came over and spoke with a voice that was only audible to Yan Liqiang. “Young Master Yan, this is...”

“Don’t mind me. I’m just going out to practice archery, just pretend you didn’t see anything. Remember, do not alarm the others...” Yan Liqiang told him with a solemn face.

The guards here were all members of the Lu Clan, loyalty naturally had never been an issue to them. That guard only slightly hesitated for two seconds before he nodded, indicating that he understood.

Yan Liqiang didn’t leave from the main entrance nor the rear exit, he instead walked to the rear courtyard where he usually practiced his martial arts. With the strength he exerted with his feet, he used the ‘Nine Palace Wind Shadow Steps’ on the wall of the rear courtyard. The strong jumping ability instantly allowed his body to soar into the air. With just two more continuous steps on the wall, his body momentum continued to propel him higher up, reaching the top of the three-meter wall. Exerting a light force, he then used one hand to flip himself over the top of the wall, his entire body silently going over like a huge bird, and instantly landed over at the other side.

Beyond this courtyard wall was a dense and lush bamboo forest.

Yan Liqiang, who had jumped over the courtyard wall, squatted behind a bunch of bamboos as he opened his eyes wide to observe his surroundings in the darkness. At the same time, he also used all his other senses to carefully feel the situation around him.

When he confirmed that no one had discovered him, Yan Liqiang, ran just like a cat, agilely and quickly into the bamboo forest, towards the mountain range at the other end. In the blink of an eye, he fully blended himself into the darkness.

...

Yan Liqiang didn’t reappear in this forest until nearly three hours later. He then climbed over the courtyard wall, just like how he had left earlier. However, the bow bag and quiver of arrows he had with him were nowhere to be seen.

The Lu Clan guard had been waiting for Yan Liqiang’s return. He only breathed a long sigh of relief when he finally saw Yan Liqiang again.

Yan Liqiang winked at that guard and made a gesture for him to keep it a secret. Although the guard was filled with doubt, he still nodded to Yan Liqiang...

...

The next day, on the fifteenth day of the sixth lunar month, there was nothing out of the ordinary at the Yan Residence.

Yan Liqiang still got up at the time he normally did and then practiced a round of Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing before he went off to take care of Yan Dechang and helped him to wash up.

Zhou Hongda and his wife also arrived at the Yan Residence early. Just as how they did for the past few days, they started making breakfast for everyone in the Yan Residence. By the time Yan Dechang finished washing up, the couple had also finished preparing breakfast.

“When I went to buy some meat early this morning, I found out that the live pigs that a few butchers in town had just bought were booked by the people from the Hong Clan again. I heard that because the martial arts examination is drawing near, so the Hong Clan is preparing to offer sacrifices to their ancestors today, praying for Hong Tao to be the best in this examination and to advance to Martial Warrior soon.”

While eating breakfast, this news that Yan Liqiang heard from Zhou Hongda stunned him for a few good seconds before he vaguely hummed in response.

In the afternoon after lunch, Yan Dechang threw away his cane for the first time and managed to walk two rounds in the courtyard. His body was getting better and better.

He exercised for about two hours before he felt a little exhausted. Yan Liqiang helped him back into the room and changed his dressing. By the time he was done, Yan Dechang had fallen asleep.

After Yan Liqiang came out from the room, he immediately went to the kitchen. He took out a back-carried basket and a small hoe and prepared to go out.

Steward Lu had an astonished look on his face when he saw Yan Liqiang leaving.

“I didn’t expect my father to recover this fast. It’s about time for the mushrooms on the mountains to grow out these few days. I’m going up there to pick some so I can stew some chicken for father as a nourishing supplement tomorrow...”

Steward Lu was slightly baffled. “Young Master Yan...”

Yan Liqiang had a big smile on his face. “It’ll be fine. Steward Lu, do you think that person would still dare to linger around Liuhe Town after orders for his arrest have been circulated for so many days? If I’m still not back by the time my father wakes up, tell him that I have gone shopping in town and ask him not to be worried. If I’m still not back by nightfall, you all can go ahead with dinner first!”

Steward Lu seemed to still have something to say but Yan Liqiang’s palm was already on his shoulder, giving him a pat with unusual force. He gave it a couple squeezes as he looked at Steward Lu with a determined expression on his face. “I’ll be alright going alone. Steward Lu, please stay here and look after my father...”

Yan Liqiang’s words were imbued with a wave of power that Steward Lu couldn’t refuse, besides, the Lu Clan had given him an order to follow Yan Liqiang’s instructions. Seeing Yan Liqiang’s determination to ascend the mountain, Steward Lu could only nod and urge Yan Liqiang to be careful out there at the same time.

Just like this, Yan Liqiang exited the main entrance of the Yan Residence with a back-carried basket. He followed the Willow River and made his way towards the forest that was not too far away. In just about twenty minutes, he went into the mountains under the gaze of many people...

The mountain within Qinghe County was known as Mount Hundred Zhang. Mount Hundred Zhang was neither a famous mountain nor was it a tall one. The entire mountain extended continuously for more than thirty kilometers. The highest peak was barely hundred zhang away from the ground, and thus it received the name – Mount Hundred Zhang. A majority of this mountain lied within the boundary of Qinghe County while a small part of it extended towards the neighboring Qulan County. It wasn’t considered to be quite far from Liuhe Town.

Mount Hundred Zhang wasn’t well known. However, the mountain was covered with verdant and lush vegetation everywhere. Upon entering the mountain for a brief moment, one would not be able to see any more traces of people on the small trail in the mountain. Apart from the bird cries ringing in one’s ears as well as the barely audible disjointed folk song coming from the other side of the mountain top, everything else appeared to be rather eerily silent.

Usually, apart from a few woodcutters and rhizotomists, not many people would enter the mountains.

Few years back, there would still be people occasionally heading up the mountain to harvest mushrooms. But ever since a woman was raped and murdered while picking mushrooms in the mountains two years ago, the number of people who picked mushrooms also lessened. During that time, the case caused an outrage in Qinghe County and was widely spread across the town. However, until this day they still hadn’t caught the culprit so this was an unresolved case. As time goes on, people slowly forgot about it.

The current world was the same as the past world that Yan Liqiang experienced. Although the worlds weren’t the same, humanity never changed. Everything that was good and evil, along with beauty and ugliness also remained the same. The only thing that changed in the world was perhaps the rules of power. Once the common folk passed through the hardships of training, they would obtain a slight chance to change their lives.

However, those that were hideous and evil in nature still remained unchanged just like before.

Yan Liqiang entered the mountains and followed a trail that led inside without the slightest effort of concealing his tracks. After walking for an entire one hour, he came to a desolate and uninhabited pine forest where the folk song couldn’t be heard anymore. He found a shrub inside the pine forest and underneath it, he found a rabbit hole. Then, he took out the Horned Python Bow as well as the quiver of arrows which he had hidden in the rabbit hole before placing the basket and hoe that he carried on his back into the hole.

It was just as Yan Liqiang had thought. Because the pines in the pine forest weren’t ripe yet, no one had come here last night until now. Even if someone came, they wouldn’t have been able to discover the items he had hidden in the rabbit hole behind the shrub.

When Yan Liqiang was nine years old, Yan Dechang had brought him to this place before to pick up pine cones as well as hunting rabbits. During the year when Yan Liqiang came here, the homicide case had yet to happen on Mount Hundred Zhang so Yan Dechang had led Yan Liqiang deep into the mountain. This blanket of pine forest was one of the very few happy occasions that he experienced during childhood so the memories remain fresh in his mind until now. He even remembered the location of the rabbit hole he scooped out his items from.

After he placed the items into the rabbit hole, Yan Liqiang carried the bow and arrows to the base of an entwined and vigorous old pine tree wrapping itself around another not far from where he had come from. He easily climbed up the couple of meters of the high pine tree and composedly opened the bow bag to retrieve the Horned Python Bow. Then he hid the bow bag and the arrows in a sunken tree hole of an old pine tree behind him. Soon after, he easily took out an arrow from the quiver and lightly nocked it on the bowstring. He hung the bow downwards with his back pressed against the old pine tree as he waited quietly here.

Sometimes, regardless of whether it was a sudden thought or if it had been planned for a long time, killing honestly wasn’t a very difficult feat to accomplish. People who trained in martial arts would find it easier. What was truly difficult was always having the resolution to commit it.

Yan Liqiang’s intuition was telling him that King Cobra would come.

After his identity was exposed, King Cobra was still hiding in the shadows spying on him. What he was waiting for was for a slight chance to make Yan Liqiang let down his guard. If King Cobra did not strike now and waited for the martial arts examination to come in two days time, it would be increasingly difficult for him to strike as there would be changes. The reason why Yan Liqiang went up into the mountain alone was to create such opportunity for him.

Yan Liqiang concealed himself from sight on the old pine tree. His entire figure was completely shrouded by the pine tree’s branches and leaves. Unless someone closed in on him, they wouldn’t be able to see him in any way.

The mountain breeze blew past the pine forest and swayed the pine trees. Silence engulfed the pine forest...

...

After about an hour, a man finally walked into the pine forest.

The person was wearing a bamboo hat with the edges pressed low on his face, dressed like a woodcutter. However, he wasn’t carrying any firewood on his body. After he walked into the pine forest, he appeared even more alert and cautious, sweeping his eyes across the surroundings every now and then. At times he would crouch down to examine the traces Yan Liqiang had left behind before slowly walking one step at a time towards the shrub where Yan Liqiang had hidden his bow and arrows earlier on.

Yan Liqiang towered above him, unable to see the man’s face clearly as it was covered by the bamboo hat. He wasn’t sure whether this man was King Cobra so he appeared a little hesitant. His arrow was already nocked on his bowstring, but he had yet to launch it.

Right at this moment, a woodpecker cried out from the distance as it flew from the trees from within the pine forest. The man instantly lifted his head in shock, glancing at the location where the bird had flown from.

Upon catching sight of it unexpectedly, Yan Liqiang finally got a full glimpse at the pair of triangular eyes underneath the bamboo hat as well as the mole on his left cheek. If this man wasn’t the King Cobra, who else could he be?

When he realized it was only a bird, King Cobra heaved out a sigh of relief...

Right now!....

Yan Liqiang loosened his grip and an arrow instantly shot out as fast as lightning through a distance not even a hundred meters. The arrow that flew out instantly hit the target. In the midst of the blood-curdling scream that erupted from King Cobra, the arrow that was shot out with a huge force immediately pierced through King Cobra’s underbelly before it stabbed itself to the ground, instantly drenching the arrow in red.

As a result, King Cobra heavily collapsed to the ground on his back.

Yan Liqiang snuck out the arrow from the tree hole behind him and carried it on his back. Then, he nimbly leapt down from the old pine tree he hid in with the Horned Python Bow in hand, breaking into a small run towards where King Cobra had collapsed. Yan Liqiang then came to a halt about twenty meters from where King Cobra had fallen. He did not attempt to move closer and took out another arrow, nocking it on the Horned Python Bow. He narrowed his eyes at the collapsed King Cobra in the pine forest.

King Cobra was motionless on the ground, his face facing downwards as though he was dead.

A cold smile then gradually formed on Yan Liqiang’s countenance.

“Your face is facing downwards, preventing others from seeing your appearance. Yet at the same time, your ears were pressed to the ground which allows you to listen to the surrounding footsteps to determine how many people would come over. On the other hand, one of your hands is grasping your waist. I presume there must be a weapon there. This arrow might possibly claim your life but it won’t kill you instantly. You’re not dead, you’re still waiting to make a comeback...” Yan Liqiang muttered to himself as he faced King Cobra.

King Cobra still kept his supine posture motionlessly.

Yan Liqiang did not talk rubbish with him anymore. He immediately shot an arrow from where he was at. The arrowhead instantly pierced through King Cobra’s left leg causing blood to splatter all over.

King Cobra’s body twitched and quivered for a brief moment, but he remained still.

Yan Liqiang still refused to advance forward. He once again nocked another arrow and muttered to himself, “Very good. I will see how long can you pretend. The next arrow will be aimed right at your right leg!”

As soon as he finished, the third arrow shot out and King Cobra’s right leg was instantly nailed down with the arrow.

Similar to before, King Cobra’s body still only quivered for a moment and remained motionless.

Yan Liqiang continued to nock the fourth arrow on the bowstring, his voice still serene and chilly as before. “As expected, you really are a crafty and experienced man. You can still endure it after being hit by two arrows in succession. However, you seemed to have forgotten something. No matter how much you endure, the reaction from your can’t be faked. Sweat is already forming on your neck. For the next arrow, I’ll count to three. It’ll be aimed right at your neck. Allow me to verify whether you’re really intending to pretend until death... ”

“Two...”

The moment Yan Liqiang counted to two, King Cobra’s body finally flipped over like a dead fish and he turned his head over. His expression was distorted as he glared daggers at Yan Liqiang who was twenty meters away from him with his pair of triangular eyes. Traces of fear, hatred, and murderous intent were oozing from his expression.

“Your hand has yet to leave your waist. Spread open your palm and reveal what’s in it face up. Then you slowly place it on the ground. Don’t test my patience...”

“I...I admit defeat...” King Cobra’s face trembled for a brief moment as he removed his hand from his waist and went according to Yan Liqiang’s demand, spreading both his hands on the ground. He opened his mouth like a dead fish, struggling to breathe violently, his chest heaving up and down. He cast a complex expression which was difficult to make out as Yan Liqiang cautiously walked slowly towards him with bow and arrows in hand. Gradually, he began to burst into a hysterical laughter, coughing as he laughed harder. “Ahem...ahem... I’ve never imagined that I, Fang Ji, would unexpectedly be defeated at a small unremarkable place like Qinghe County of Pingxi Prefecture.... Not only that, I can’t believe I’ll die in the hands of a young man...Retribution....Retribution...HAHAHA.... ”

Fang Ji? Yan Liqiang gave a slight frown, and once again meticulously studied the face on the ground. Wasn’t this King Cobra called Deng Long? How did he turn into Fang Ji? Could it be that Deng Long was also a pseudonym for King Cobra? Hmm, that ought to the case, so Yan Liqiang didn’t spare any more thoughts on it...

Yan Liqiang walked over with bow and arrow in hand. He soon came to a stop about ten meters away from King Cobra with no intention of going further.

“There is no doubt you’ll die today. Now that we have come to this, just beg for a quick death. Answer my question and I’ll end it quick by giving you a full corpse. I’ll even dig you a hole so you can be buried and lie at rest. Should you play tricks with me again, I’ll make sure you’d rather be dead than be alive. I brought a pack of icing sugar with me. If you’re not being honest, I’ll let you have a taste of a myriad of ants devouring you at death’s door!” Yan Liqiang coldly exclaimed, “How much did the Hong Clan pay you to kill me?”

“Initially it was fifty taels of gold, but after...because you ran all the way to Huanglong County, the delay was too long so I made the Hong Clan double the amount. In the beginning, the Hong Clan only wanted me to cripple you so you’d be handicapped forever. However, the Hong Clan found out your clan had relations with the Huanglong County Weaponsmiths Quarter, which prompted them to change their mind. They wanted me to kill you and your father to eliminate future problems...” King Cobra gasped for breath as he laid on the ground; his tone was suddenly filled with bitter resentment and unwillingness. “Prior to this, the Hong Clan said you never learned the art of archery... If I can live...I will crush them all...”

“The Hong Clan was the one who informed you of me heading up the mountain?”

“Yes, ever since you came back, the Hong Clan had sent someone to monitor your family’s every move. I’m also hidden in the shadows waiting for the right chance to strike again. The one who notified me today was Hong An. He’s still at the foot of the mountain...inside that peach forest...waiting for me to bring your head back to meet with him again...Then he’ll pay the remaining amount of money to me...” Large globs of blood began spewing out from King Cobra’s mouth.

Yan Liqiang fell silent for a few seconds. “Lastly, do you have anything else to say...”

A mad smile emerged on King Cobra’s face as he rolled his eyes to gaze at Yan Liqiang. He laughed sinisterly, “Since the Hong Clan tricked me, then let...let them be buried with me...”

“You don’t need to worry about that...” After he finished, the Horned Python Bow in Yan Liqiang’s hand trembled and the fourth arrow flew out, instantly piercing through King Cobra’s neck. The sharp, incisive arrowhead had immediately snapped the vertebra on King Cobra’s neck, causing him to ultimately die...

In his two lifetimes, this was the first time Yan Liqiang had killed anyone.

He had seen many novels and television series in his past life. He’d always thought that a person would feel unwell after killing another, such as feeling dizzy at the sight of blood, nausea, or vomiting. But in fact, Yan Liqiang felt pretty calm after eliminating King Cobra. His mind was not seeing the corpse of King Cobra dying before his eyes, but instead the memory of the two horrible and nearly fatal gashes on the body of his father, Yan Dechang.

After seeing the wounds on his father’s body and then looking at King Cobra still form, Yan Liqiang calmed down completely. He was so calm that it even surprised himself.

After confirming the death of King Cobra, Yan Liqiang just put down the bow and arrow in his hands. He then walked over and started to examine King Cobra’s corpse.

Yan Liqiang stopped before the dead body and squatted down. He felt around and discovered two sharp items protruding from his waist. He took them out and realized they were two polished throwing knives that were about the length of a palm. He recalled that King Cobra kept touching his waist earlier on and suddenly felt relieved. Luckily he’d been careful to keep his distance from King Cobra. If he’d let his guard down even a little and approached King Cobra while he played dead, these throwing knives would probably be lodged in his body by now. Indeed, it hadn’t been easy to take down these outlaws.

Aside from the two throwing knives, Yan Liqiang had also found a money bag on King Cobra’s body. In the money bag were six golden promissory notes and some pieces of silver. Each golden promissory note was worth ten taels of gold. He could exchange these notes for money at the official monetary house of the Great Han Empire. Apart from the money, King Cobra had a medicine sack with him as well, with three different colored medicine bottles in the medicine sack. As there were no labels indicating what the bottles contained, Yan Liqiang chose not to sniff their contents just in case the bottles contained something harmful like sleeping gas or the like. If he were to hastily inhale them and accidentally fall into a trap, that would have been hilarious.

Yan Liqiang kept the money bag and immediately tossed the medicine sack back on King Cobra’s body before carefully searching again.

“Huh.....” Just when Yan Liqiang touched King Cobra’s underarms, he discovered the fitted clothes underneath appeared to have two layers. The material there seemed to be a little thicker and seemed to hold something within it.

Yan Liqiang pulled open King Cobra’s clothes. He took out a throwing knife and cut open the material under King Cobra’s underarm, digging out the item hidden inside.

It was a book with a silver-colored cover. The texture didn’t feel like paper. It was very soft to the touch and gleamed in appearance, yet had an underlying firmness. There was a metallic texture to it as if weaved out of some kind of metallic thread. Six golden words adorned the book’s silver-colored cover:”The Golden Bell Divine Protection Technique”.

A secret cultivation manual!

He quickly flipped through the book. The whole book was thin, including the cover, comprised of only seven pages, with the rest of the pages having been ripped off. This secret manual hidden on King Cobra’s person was apparently only the front part. He wasn’t sure how many pages made up the latter part. At the top of that seven-page-book’s last page was a line of words: The Golden Bell Shield: Qi Circulation Diagrams for The Sixth Layer and Medicinal Pill Recipes.

Surprisingly, this thinly-paged, incomplete secret manual was outlining a realm of six layers. He wasn’t sure how many additional layers there were at the later realms, but it was definitely more than six layers. A secret manual like this was practically a priceless treasure.

Yan Liqiang’s little heart thumped as he looked at the incomplete secret manual held in his hand.. He looked around to make sure there was no one nearby before quickly hiding the secret manual on his body.

He searched King Cobra’s body once again and confirmed there was nothing more to find. Only then did he proceed to deal with King Cobra’s corpse.

Yan Liqiang first pulled out the two arrows piercing King Cobra’s leg. As he pulled them out, he realized King Cobra’s legs were sturdy and very muscular. The arrows he’d shot were wedged deeply in his muscles. Moreover, the depth of the arrows’ penetration was also slightly out of Yan Liqiang’s expectations. He’d initially felt that his two shots would at the very least penetrate five inches deep into King Cobra’s thigh. But in fact, the arrowheads had only sunk about three inches into his flesh.

Could it be that King Cobra had practiced the secret manual he’d carried everywhere with him–”The Golden Bell Divine Protection Technique”– until he honed his body’s ability in resisting attacks to an extraordinary degree?

While Yan Liqiang was wondering about that, he pulled out the arrow piercing King Cobra’s neck. As soon as he removed it, the pointed end of the arrowhead seemed to dislodge a small layer of skin above King Cobra’s Adam’s apple.

Feeling odd, Yan Liqiang gently pulled back the line of skin with his hand. He realized that there was actually another layer of skin underneath. Yan Liqiang exerted some force, and a soft ripping noise was heard, akin to the sound of a package being torn open. A thin mask was revealed in his hand and suddenly the face of King Cobra as he lay on the floor, had changed drastically into another face. The face appeared to be that of a middle-aged man’s, with skin so pale it looked like it had never been exposed to the sun. His eyebrows were sparse and his cheekbones were sharp like a knife. His entire face revealed traces of a dark and vicious aura. But the face was now a grim mask of death. It couldn’t be any more lifeless than this.

Could this be King Cobra’s real face? He remembered King Cobra mentioning earlier that his name was Fang Ji and not Deng Long.

It had never occurred to Yan Liqiang that this King Cobra would bring this many revelations with him.

...

Yan Liqiang first dragged King Cobra’s dead body behind the nearby bushes. He then took the pack basket and hoe that he’d hidden in the rabbit hole behind the bushes. Using the hoe, it took him more than half an hour to dig a deeper hole within the abandoned rabbit hole. After that, he threw King Cobra into that hole and buried him. He’d pretty much kept his promise since he’d left King Cobra’s body still intact when he’d buried him.

More than an hour had passed by the time he’d completed this task. But Yan Liqiang didn’t feel tired at all.

Next, Yan Liqiang used a knife to cut a cloth left behind by King Cobra into thinner strips. He wrapped the entire body of the Horned Python Bow, leaving only the bowstring exposed. This way, no one else would be able to see that it was the eye-catching Horned Python Bow.

After that, Yan Liqiang cleaned up the battlefield once again and took care of the bloodstains and any obvious traces on the floor.

When he was done cleaning up, Yan Liqiang took out the mask he’d torn from King Cobra’s face, his eyes now lighting up...

...

When Yan Liqiang walked out of the pine forest ten minutes or so later, perhaps Yan Dechang would be incapable of recognizing him, since he had currently transformed himself into King Cobra.

Yan Liqiang wore his bamboo hat and carried the Horned Python Bow with its quiver of arrows. He threw his pack basket and hoe into the weed bushes at the bottom of the valley before he made his way to the foot of the mountain...

The sun had set and the sky had turned dark when Yan Liqiang arrived at the peach forest situated at the foot of the mountain.

Seeing no one around, Yan Liqiang swiftly entered the peach forest.

...

Not long after entering, Yan Liqiang saw a slightly plump figure pacing to and fro in the deeper part of the peach forest.

Who else could this person be if not Hong Tao’s uncle, Hong An?

Nobody, not even a single guard from the Hong Clan, accompanied Hong An. This kind of matter should be kept in the dark after all, hence the fewer people involved, the better, unless it was someone from the Hong Clan. If other people found out about it, the Hong Clan wouldn’t be at ease.

Yan Liqiang took a deep breath. He reached behind him, immediately gripping the Horned Python Bow in his hand. He couldn’t be bothered to move closer and waste his breath on the people of the Hong Clan anymore, so he released an arrow directly towards Hong An, at a range of more than a hundred meters away.

A ‘pu’ sound rang out. The long arrow entered Hong An’s left eye and pierced right through his brain. Without a sound, Hong An collapsed onto the ground.

Once the art of archery was successful, killing a person was practically just like killing a chicken. Drawing the bow and releasing the arrow. With just these two actions, a life within a hundred-meters radius could be easily extinguished in just a split-second.

...

Yan Liqiang, who had shot Hong An dead, remained in the peach forest for another half-hour. When the sky turned completely dark, only then did he pick up his bow and travel back to Liuhe Town.

It was at this moment when the Hong Clan’s ceremony to pay respects to their ancestors was scheduled to come to an end. The Hong Clan’s family were now feasting at their home...

The Hong Clan’s manor was situated east of Liuhe Town. The entire manor occupied more than twenty mu. They were a household that was second to none in Liuhe Town.

Today, the Hong Clan was worshipping their ancestors and had been busy for almost the entire day from morning till sunset. When night came, and they’d finished worshipping the ancestors, the entire Hong Residence was brightly lit, filled with the sounds of voices and activity. They had set up a large banquet and were bustling with noise and excitement.

Just by standing on the outskirts of Liuhe Town, one would be able to catch sight of the glorious lights emitting from inside the Hong Clan’s manor.

Right inside a dining hall in the Hong Residence’s backyard, the Hong Clan’s Old Master Hong Chengshou, Hong Tao, Hong Tao’s father Hong Ding, Hong Tao’s third uncle Hong Fan, as well as his fourth uncle Hong Rong, sat together at the table, eating their fill while they waited for Hong An to return.

Old Master Hong Chengshou had four sons and two daughters, with both daughters already married out. His four sons were named “An Ding Fan Rong” in succession–which put together meant ‘prosperity and stability’– to symbolize the hope Old Master Hong had for the Hong Clan’s future.

Hong Tao’s first uncle, Hong An, and third uncle, Hong Fan, managed the Hong Clan’s properties in Yuntao County which lay adjacent to Qinghe County. The Hong Clan’s properties in Yuntao County weren’t considered particularly large, but neither was it seen as small as it spanned more than four hundred mu of land, with two yellow noodle factories as part of their operations. When Old Master Hong had been in charge of the family, he’d borrowed the reputation of Hong Tao’s great-grandfather at the time, using it to fight for the property in Yuntao Country and eventually winning ownership.

As for Hong Tao’s father, Hong Ding, he was the Town Constable of Liuhe Town. Although he had no grade and rank, he was still a man of his word in Liuhe Town. Hong Tao’s fourth uncle, Hong Rong, served under the Law Enforcement Office of Qinghe County as a clerk.

With regards to Hong Tao’s Elder Auntie and Little Auntie, one was married off to the prefectural city of Pingxi while the other one was married to another wealthy family in Qinghe County. In his current lifetime, Old Master Hong had two more brothers, both of which were Hong Tao’s two great-uncles. When they were determining the division of the family with Old Master Hong, they were unable to best him, so they moved out. Both lived in Pingxi prefectural city. One of them opened an inn while the other opened up a fabric store. The great-uncle who opened up the cloth store loved to gamble, so he had already squandered his small fortune early on. His wife had run away, and he had suffered a great setback as a result. Many years had passed, and there was still no news of him. On the other hand, the great-uncle who’d opened an inn was quite well-off and could still get by. However, he hadn’t seemed to get along with Old Master Hong back in those days so after he moved out, the dealings he had with the Hong Clan in Liuhe Town had considerably lessened.

While he was worshipping the ancestors today, Old Master Hong reminisced about past events in the Hong Clan and felt a little rueful. He chattered at the dining table about what had happened in the Hong Clan, and he lamented that their present situation had been earned with great difficulty.

After he finished, Old Master Hong looked at the vacant seat at the side of the table before glancing at the weather outside. He couldn’t help but frown, and asked, “Why isn’t Hong An back yet?”

Everyone inside the room was important to the Hong Clan, so any issues or matters of significance could be spoken straightforwardly. Hong Tao was an outstanding member of the Hong Clan’s current generation and had been the only one whose public status had risen, unlike his other cousins. The others were either mediocre or had lost themselves to wine and women. They were also incapable of enduring any hardship, so they weren’t the right people to train in martial arts. This was precisely why Old Master Hong had placed great expectations on Hong Tao. After the martial arts preliminary exam, he could also participate in the Hong Clan’s classified affairs and be a person of influence. He was currently being cultivated by Old Master Hong as the Hong Clan’s heir.

“That guy will probably take some time to do his job since Mount Hundred Zhang isn’t exactly small. If Blacksmith Yan’s son has actually run into the mountain forest, it won’t be easy to find him in a short amount of time, so it will take a while for him to do the deed!” Hong Ding glanced outside at the weather. “If he’s not back in two hours, I’ll ask Steward Hong to bring some men along to help him out!”

“Mm....” Old Master Hong nodded his head, his expression as deep as water. “Once the deed is done, those in Liuhe Town waiting to ridicule our Hong Clan will lay low for a while. The family estate left to us by our ancestors mustn’t be squandered at our hands. By the time Hong Tao advances to a Martial Warrior in the future, our position in Liuhe Town should still be safeguarded for another fifteen years.”

“Father is right. That two hundred mu of conferred fields in Liuhe Town will be our Hong Clan’s starting ground. No matter what, we mustn’t allow anyone else to occupy it. An inexperienced brat from the Yan Clan also wants to be a Martial Warrior. Heh...heh...Then we’ll wait for him to be reincarnated again to see how that turns out!” The one who said this with a cold smile on his face was Hong Rong. Hong Rong’s appearance was quite similar to Old Master Hong. However, his face was longer, his eyes were more narrow, and his lips were as thin as a piece of paper, giving the impression of a scheming character.

On the dining table, Hong Rong was the only one dressed in official robes. Although this outfit didn’t count as much in the Law Enforcement Office, it held a great, formidable power in the eyes of the common folks in Liuhe Town. Hong Rong knew very well what it signified in the hearts of the citizens, so every time Hong Rong returned to Liuhe Town, he would deliberately wear the official black robe representing the county town’s Law Enforcement Office.

The two hundred mu of conferred fields in Liuhe Town were top-notch irrigated farmlands that lay on the border of Willow River. This piece of farmland had actually been bestowed onto Hong Tao’s great-grandfather when he’d become a Martial Warrior back then. According to the Great Han Empire’s laws, the conferred fields were not considered as fully belonging to the Hong Clan. The Hong Clan only possessed the authority to use the fields and reap the subsequent profits. After Hong Tao’s great-grandfather passed away, three generations had passed without a Martial Warrior emerging from the Hong Clan. The favor bestowed from being a Martial Warrior had been severed. If another person in Liuhe Town were to advance as a Martial Warrior at this time, then those two hundred mu of conferred fields would be granted to the new Martial Warrior’s name.

The conferred fields originally served as a form of good governance by the Great Han Empire to motivate the common folks. But as the saying goes, it was easy to accept something but difficult to return it. If they were to request the Hong Clan to give up those two hundred mu of top-notch irrigated farmlands at this time, it would be no different than slicing pieces of flesh from their own bodies. On top of that, the conferred fields were tax-free. For years, the Hong Clan had occupied and bought a number of properties in the town. After using various methods, they were eventually designated under the conferred fields’ name. If the Hong Clan were to lose the conferred fields, opening up verification of those Liuhe Town properties, it would mean that the Hong Clan couldn’t escape paying taxes for those fields anymore. They would have to fork out a large sum of money to pay the annual taxes. This was completely unbearable to the Hong Clan, who were accustomed to their tyrannical lifestyle in Liuhe Town.

Apart from the conferred fields and in accordance with the Great Han Empire’s laws, if a Martial Warrior were to emerge from another household in Liuhe Town, Hong Tao’s father’s position as a Town Constable couldn’t be safeguarded as well.

This was precisely why the Hong Clan treated the Yan Clan as a thorn in their side and their flesh. They would never allow Liuhe Town to have another household that could produce a Martial Warrior apart from theirs. Once Yan Liqiang had exhibited signs of advancing as a Martial Warrior, they needed to destroy him even if it meant spending a huge sum of money to hire an outlaw.

“That Yan Liqiang is actually quite odd. A few days ago, I went to Huanglong County to ask about his circumstances with the Lu Clan. Everyone in Huanglong County was saying that a deity had appeared in his dream to impart a method that could save the lives of those who drowned. He performed moxibustion on the navel, and with this method alone, he saved the grandson of Old Master Lu and became good friends with them. His current reputation in Huanglong County is growing by the minute. Even people outside of the county know about his method! But even if the Lu Clan can protect him for now, they won’t be able to protect him forever!” said Hong Fan, shaking his head as he drank a mouthful of wine.

“What did he mean by a deity imparting teachings in his dream?! That Yan Liqiang was just lucky. I don’t know from which master he stole the method from, but he’s managed to create such a huge name for himself out there...” Hong Tao stated maliciously. Ever since he was young, he had hated Yan Liqiang. Now that Yan Liqiang had made a name for himself at Huanglong County, a name which was quickly spreading further, he felt even more mad with jealousy.

The key men in the Hong Clan were currently conversing in the room when all of a sudden a loud clamor could be heard from outside, coming from alarmed servants. “FIRE! FIRE! EVERYONE, QUICKLY PUT OUT THE FIRE!”

In the wake of the servant’s screams, the frenzied sounds of panic started to ring out from outside. At the same time, a plume of blazing red light was illuminated into the room from the door and windows.

On hearing that their house had caught fire, the men inside the room couldn’t sit still any longer. What was a wealthy family most afraid of? Fire. They were most afraid of fire. All those large buildings containing their vast wealth could sometimes be entirely wiped out by a fire alone.

Old Master Hong was the first to leave the room. He pushed through the door and moved to the middle of the courtyard outside. The others also quickly followed suit and left the room.

Fire covered the Hong Residence’s storeroom, the flames blazing upwards to the sky. Thick smoke permeated the entire place and continued to spread throughout.

“Old Master! It’s terrible! The storeroom has caught fire...” the Hong Clan’s steward ran over, shouting in panic.

“I’m not blind yet. There’s no need for you to say it!” Old Master Hong shouted angrily, “Why did the storeroom catch fire? Who did this? Don’t they know they need to be careful with fire on the day we worship our ancestors?!”

“I...I also don’t know who caused it!” the steward mumbled.

“What are you standing there for?! Hurry up and put out the fire...” Old Master Hong violently slapped the steward in the face.

“Yes...yes...” The steward lowered his head and was about to turn to leave. Right as he was turning, all of a sudden he felt a trickle of liquid splashing onto his face. The steward raised his hand to wipe it only to discover that the liquid was red in color, similar to blood. He lifted his head with curiosity and was greeted by the sight of Old Master Hong standing before him with an arrow pierced through his mouth. The arrow was lodged deep inside Old Master Hong’s mouth, leaving only the feathered end of the arrow outside.

Old Master Hong’s eyes were widened in shock as his upright body collapsed backward.

Another arrow was shot out. Unable to react in time, Hong Ding, the Town Constable of Liuhe Town, was instantly pierced in the heart by a keen arrow. He let out a terrifying scream, before collapsing to the ground in an instant...

The remaining men of the Hong Clan finally came to their senses. Hong Fan screamed with terror and turned around to run back into the room.

But just as he took a step forward, another sharp arrow flew towards him, piercing him directly through the center of his back, killing him on the spot.

In the blink of an eye, three of the Hong Clan’s men were murdered.

Hong Rong fell to the ground, trying frantically to escape. He hid behind the flowerbeds of the courtyard, screaming at the top of his lungs, “MEN, HURRY! THERE’S BEEN A MURDER! A MURDER...”

Hong Rong’s endless yells sounded strikingly forlorn and harsh among the chaos in the Hong Residence.

At this time, quite a number of guards and servants from the Hong Clan were busy drawing water to quell the fire. However, some of the guards who had heard Hong Rong’s yells ran towards the rear courtyard.

Yan Liqiang was running above the roof of one of the houses in the Hong Clan’s manor, his feet stepping over its tiles and eaves.

Hong Rong hid behind the flower terrace of the courtyard, where Yan Liqiang’s arrows couldn’t reach. Which is why he must charge into that courtyard in order to take care of Hong Rong too.

Four people from the Hong Clan had already been murdered. Naturally, this Hong Rong wouldn’t be spared too.

The murderous intention in Yan Liqiang’s heart was like a dragon.

He carried his quiver of arrows and held onto the Horned Python Bow wrapped in fabric. Like a scurrying cat on the roof, he hopped agilely over two courtyards and a wall. In a flash, he jumped off from a three-meter wall, landing in a courtyard.

One of the Hong Clan guards was the first to rush into the courtyard from another entrance. That guard had also spotted Yan Liqiang–the distance between them was ten meters. After a moment’s surprise, the guard yelled and charged towards Yan Liqiang with a saber in his hands.

Pulling out an arrow, drawing the bow and releasing the arrow–Yan Liqiang swiftly carried out these three actions in one go. In just the blink of an eye, Yan Liqiang’s arrow pierced the right shoulder of the Hong Clan guard before he could take more than three steps forward.

The guard was sent flying backwards from the bow’s great force before landing heavily on the ground, his fighting strength completely knocked away.

After his art of archery had advanced into the realm of Third Heavenly Layer–and showing no signs of entering the realm of Fourth Heavenly Layer anytime soon–the movements in the art of archery that Yan Liqiang practiced the most over this period of time were drawing the arrow and nocking the arrow. He was pursuing his goal of completing an attack in the shortest amount of time and he had finally reached a favorable point in skill after working hard these past few days. To an archer, the speed of loading an arrow, which was also equivalent to the shooting speed of their bow and arrow, became the most important factor in determining the outcome when fighting at close quarters.

“The assassin, the assassin is here...!” Steward Hong, who’d been scared out of his wits in the courtyard was acting like a chicken that was about to be slaughtered, yelling recklessly in a shrill voice.

Yan Liqiang released a shot. Steward Hong, who had once sized up Yan Liqiang from above his towering rhinodrake steed, was instantly pierced through the thigh by an arrow. Steward Hong fell down, his yell turning into an anguished wail while he rolled on the floor in agony, clutching his thigh.

Yan Liqiang quickly dashed into the courtyard.

Hong Tao was still standing in a daze, a silly smile on his face as he stared at the corpses of Hong Chengshou and Hong Ding, as though he’d gone insane.

Dashing forward, Yan Liqiang was already aiming an arrow at Hong Tao. However, the moment his eyes met with Hong Tao’s hollow eyes, Yan Liqiang changed the trajectory of his bow and arrow and shot at the courtyard entrance behind him.

The second guard who had just barged in from the entrance took an arrow to his thigh before he even managed to catch a glimpse of Yan Liqiang’s silhouette. He let out a blood-curdling scream and then collapsed onto the ground.

Yan Liqiang’s movements were as precise as an automatic rifle. Almost at the moment his arrow left the bowstring, his hand was already reaching backwards to pull out another arrow from the quiver on his back. The arrow was nocked on the bowstring in a flash and it took him only two strides to reach the side of the shrubs.

Hong Rong, who’d hidden behind the flower terrace, looked in shock at the sight of Yan Liqiang aiming his bow and arrow directly at him. His mouth was slightly ajar. The look of stunned surprise on his face seemed to ask the question: ‘How could it be you?’

Looking at Hong Rong’s expression, Yan Liqiang knew that he had also met King Cobra as well.

The distance between the two of them was less than ten meters. The moment Yan Liqiang’s hand loosened, the arrow left the bowstring. Hong Rong’s head was as though it had been shot at point-blank range. The arrow pierced his head from his eye socket, and his head exploded within an instant as blood spilled all over the floor. He died before he could even make a noise.

Another guard from the Hong Clan rushed in, but he proved to be of no use. Yan Liqiang drew his bow again. In the blink of an eye, the guard’s right shoulder was pierced through and he collapsed to the floor.

“Everyone, be careful! That assassin has a bow with him!” The courtyard outside was in chaos. By then, Yan Liqiang had already gotten rid of all the decision makers in the Hong Clan. And now the guards preparing to rush over to the courtyard knew of Yan Liqiang’s weapon.

The words ‘has a bow’ in this era was akin to hearing that someone ‘has a gun’ to modern people. It was a powerful deterrent.

A group of guards were huddling outside the courtyard, and they could hear the miserable wails of the remaining survivors from within. For a moment, no one actually dared to charge inside. The outside of the courtyard had fallen into chaos and someone was yelling loudly, “Hurry, go get the shields, go get the shields!”–”Hurry, go get the crossbow, get the crossbow!”

Of course, Yan Liqiang wasn’t going to wait for the guards to charge inside with their shields and crossbows. As soon as he’d disposed of Hong Rong, he was already running towards the courtyard walls. With just a few kicks of his feet, he quickly scaled up the wall more than two meters high. He then moved along the wall up to the roof, quickly making his way towards the back of the Hong Clan’s manor.

The manor of the Hong Clan was situated at the easternmost part of Liuhe Town. The Hong Clan had built a small garden surrounding the back of the Hong Residence. Beyond the garden were the outskirts of Liuhe Town.

“The assassin is on the roof! The assassin is on the roof...!” a Hong Clan guard shouted loudly after spotting Yan Liqiang running on the roof, chasing after him from the ground as he ran towards the back.

Another guard also jumped on top of the courtyard wall and tried to climb onto the roof. But Yan Liqiang easily released an arrow and shot that guard right on his thigh. That guard let out a blood-curdling scream before he fell off the wall.

He’d only made it past two houses before a sudden whooshing noise whistled past him. All Yan Liqiang felt was a strong gust of wind as something flew past him a meter away. He was taken aback by this and turned his head around, only to discover a few guards from the Hong Clan aiming a crossbow at him from a nearby courtyard. That last arrow had been shot at him by a guard with a crossbow.

Yan Liqiang turned around and released an arrow without a second thought. Before the guard could even finish loading the second bolt in the crossbow, Yan Liqiang’s arrow had already pierced his chest. The arrow went through his heart, killing that guard on the spot.

This was the first person Yan Liqiang killed apart from the people of the Hong Clan.

When one of the guards automatically tried to pick up the crossbow, Yan Liqiang immediately shot an arrow nailing the palm of that guard to the floor.

He released two more arrows, scaring off the other Hong Clan guards standing at the side. They fled in fright without even daring to expose their heads.

Yan Liqiang continued running towards the back of the manor. While he ran, he changed the tone of his voice and shouted huskily, “The Hong Clan has hired me to take care of the father and son from the Yan Clan. But after completing the work, they went back on their word and refused to pay up. They’ve gone too far, and now, I, King Cobra, have come to the Hong Clan today to seek justice. This is a grudge between the Hong Clan and I. Whoever dares to make me stay, don’t blame me for being vicious and merciless with my arrows...”

After hearing Yan Liqiang’s words, no one dared to pick up the crossbow that had been dropped to the floor. After all, there really weren’t many people who wanted to throw their lives away .

The group of guards and servants of the Hong Clan made a ruckus after one of the guards had been killed. They shouted and looked as though they were chasing after Yan Liqiang. However, quite a few of them had significantly slowed their pace in secret.

Yan Liqiang finally made it to the back garden of the Hong Residence. He leaped off from the garden’s wall and ran towards the countryside.

The Hong Clan’s guards and servants continued the chase outside with their fire torches. But before they could even make it to more than ten meters outside, an arrow suddenly shot towards them from the front. It struck the fire torch of the guard leading the group, and then knocked the hat off a guard standing at the very back. The torch’s burning flames exploded into a burst of fiery sparks in the darkness. The countless sparks sputtered onto the faces and hands of those who were holding the fire torches, scalding the guards and servants until they were crying out loud. The guard whose hat was knocked off from his head turned pale as he touched his head and the fluttering strands of hair. His legs suddenly felt weak and he found himself unable to stay standing...

Seeing the figure in front blend into the darkness in the end, the footsteps of all the guards and servants from the Hong Clan slowed down. Each and every one of them swallowed nervously and shot each other a look; none of them dared to continue chasing after the figure.

It was only at this point of time that the screams, the light from the fire at the Hong Clan’s manor, and the urgent beat of a gong ringing out gradually caused alarm among the people of Liuhe Town...

...

On the Yan Clan’s side, Steward Lu stood in the courtyard as he observed the light from the fire coming from the eastern side of Liuhe Town, and the noise from outside. His expression was somewhat anxious and uncertain, as he wondered if the people from the Hong Clan were up to no good.

...

He informed the two guards from the Lu Clan to stay alert, then sent Zhou Tiezhu outside to ask around and find out what had transpired.

Zhou Tiezhu returned half an hour later and told him that it seemed like the great manor of the Hong Clan was on fire and that there had been casualties. Upon hearing that, an excited expression appeared on Steward Lu’s face...

“Steward Lu, you mentioned that Yan Liqiang had yet to return. I hope he’s alright!” Without warning, Yan Dechang slowly walked out of his bedroom all by himself. He came to the courtyard and watched the light of the flames coming from the direction of the Hong Residence with a worried look on his face.

“Yes, Young Master Yan has just gone out shopping. Perhaps he was held up by something else? Master Yan, you need not be worried...” Steward Lu could only try his best to speak calmly, and assure Yan Dechang as much as he could.

After the group finished talking, they waited in the courtyard. They waited for more than an hour, each with an unsettled state of mind. Upon hearing a knock on the door, a guard from the Lu Clan opened it to find Yan Liqiang standing outside empty-handed.

Everyone let out a sigh of relief upon seeing Yan Liqiang’s return.

The look on Yan Liqiang’s face didn’t seem out of the ordinary. On the contrary, he appeared to be quite relaxed. As soon as he saw Yan Dechang was also waiting for him in the courtyard, he took the initiative to apologize to him. “I was thinking of going up the mountain to pick some mushrooms for you, father. But I didn’t expect to get lost after the sky turned dark. I took a detour and even lost the back-carried basket and hoe that I had brought along with me...”

Yan Dechang instantly breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing Yan Liqiang. He wasn’t going to be bothered about losing things worth so little in value...

“Oh right, on my way back here, someone from town told me that something seemed to have happened at the Hong Clan...” Sitting at the stone table in the courtyard, Yan Liqiang ate the still warm meal Mother Wu had served him, all while looking at Steward Lu who was quietly scrutinizing him. “That King Cobra turned out to be an outlaw. Despite the arrest warrants issued for him, he’d never left the Qinghe County. Tonight, he suddenly barged into the Hong Clan and just slaughtered people out of the blue...”

“What? King Cobra?” Steward Lu had a shocked expression on his face. When he received news that something had happened at the Hong Clan, and that Yan Liqiang hadn’t returned, Steward Lu wondered if Yan Liqiang had boldly enacted his revenge on them. Now after being told that the culprit was King Cobra, the surprise in his heart was plainly written all over his face.

“What is it? Could it be that Steward Lu thought it was someone else?” Yan Liqiang looked at Steward Lu with a faint smile on his face.

” Cough... cough ... ” Steward Lu coughed a couple of times and hurriedly waved his hands. “No, not at all. Only an outlaw like King Cobra is capable of such a deed. The Yan Clan should also be more cautious tonight...”

The Martial Arts County Trial Examination for all the counties in the Pingxi Prefecture fell on the 21st of the sixth lunar month.

On this day, Yan Liqiang was still woken up by his powerful biological clock early in the morning. He habitually practiced a round of Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing, then he carefully washed up and changed into clean and fresh training robes. After a sumptuous breakfast, he bid his farewell to Yan Dechang and the rest before he went out, pulling along a rhinodrake steed from his home. Accompanied by a guard from the Lu Clan, they prepared to leave for the martial arts academy in Qinghe County to participate in the Martial Arts County Trial Examination.

Yan Dechang, Lu Wenbin, Zhou Tiezhu, Zhou Hongda and his wife, as well as Mother Wu and one of the guards from the Lu Clan, all went out of the courtyard to send off Yan Liqiang up until the main road outside.

“Father, Steward Lu, Mother Wu, big brothers and Sister-in-law Zhou, there’s no need to see me out. The county seat isn’t that far from here either. Such ceremony is unnecessary!” Yan Liqiang gave everyone a smile to stop them from accompanying him any further.

“Well then, I shall wish Young Master Yan in advance for his immediate success today, and for your name to be known across the Qinghe County!” Smiling, Lu Wenbin cupped his hands towards Yan Liqiang.

“Ah, then I shall thank Steward Lu for your auspicious words!”

On the other hand, Yan Dechang stared at Yan Liqiang with a troubled look, his expression a mix of worry and anticipation. “This is your first time participating in the Martial Arts County Trial Examination. It will be fine as long as you do your best this year. There’s no need to force yourself. Don’t fight recklessly if the opponent is too strong. If it really isn’t working out, then it’s fine to concede. There’s always next year!”

“Don’t worry, father, I know. If it ends up being too much, I won’t let myself be injured either!”

Yan Dechang felt slightly more relieved when he heard Yan Liqiang’s words. He waved at Yan Liqiang. “Go then, go...”

Yan Liqiang nodded, then cupped his hand to everyone in obeisance before he agilely mounted the rhinodrake steed. At a light shake of his reins, the steed made its way out of town.

King Cobra had been dead for six days, but Yan Liqiang couldn’t tell this secret to anyone. Due to the incident at the Hong Clan, the Lu Clan was worried that King Cobra might look for trouble with the Yan Clan. Not only were Steward Lu and the guards ordered to continue staying at the Yan Residence, the Lu Clan sent two more guards the day after the Hong Clan incident. The two new guards had calm auras and bright eyes. Both of them carried their own bow bag and quiver, and one glance was all it took to know that they were experts in archery.

Yan Liqiang naturally couldn’t say anything in regards to this. It wasn’t like he could tell the Lu Clan not to worry unnecessarily because King Cobra had already kicked the bucket long ago and he’d buried him.

These past few days, several groups of law enforcers and officers came to Liuhe Town, one after another. All of them had arrived to investigate the incident that occurred at the Hong Clan, while at the same time hunting for King Cobra.

The things that King Cobra had done at the Hong Residence that night were witnessed by a few dozen of the Hong Clan’s guards. With the testimonies of the witnesses, and Yan Liqiang’s ‘alibi’ that night, the evidence in the Hong Clan’s murder case was irrefutable. Naturally, King Cobra was considered to be the perpetrator of this case.

Over the next few days, everyone in Liuhe Town felt anxious over what had happened at the Hong Clan. As soon as night fell, everyone would tightly shut their front doors, and even the number of pedestrians at night had considerably reduced.

When Yan Liqiang passed by Liuhe Town’s public square on his rhinodrake steed, he caught sight of Hong Tao.

In just a few short days, Yan Liqiang almost couldn’t recognize him.

Hong Tao’s hair was disheveled, and he was still wearing the same outfit he’d worn that night, except that it was now extremely filthy and torn in places. He stood barefoot in the public square right at the heart of the town. His gaze was unfocused, and he kept switching between crying, laughing, and muttering to himself. It was plain to see that he’d already lost his mind.

“I am already the best Martial Warrior in the Pingxi Prefecture of the Great Han Empire. I’m about to advance into becoming a Martial Master. My promotion and my ambitions will inevitably be achieved. The entire Liuhe Town belongs to us, the Hong Clan. The entire Qinghe County also belongs to us, the Hong Clan. No one shall take them away. You two there! You’re in my presence, why haven’t you dismounted from your horses and kowtowed yet...?

Hong Tao was sitting on the floor in the public square, but when he saw Yan Liqiang and the Lu Clan guard drawing close on their rhinodrake steeds, he raised his head and exclaimed loudly as he pointed at Yan Liqiang.

Yan Liqiang shook his head and sighed inwardly.

On that night, he had already realized that something wasn’t right with Hong Tao, so he’d spared his life. He thought that if Hong Tao could make it through that night, then he’d completely dash Hong Tao’s hopes of advancing as a Martial Warrior in the arena today. Yet Yan Liqiang didn’t expect Hong Tao to be so mentally traumatized from witnessing that night’s massacre that he would end up losing his mind.

Perhaps not everyone possessed the kind of mental fortitude that could quickly forget seeing their own family die in front of them, or at least, not without bearing any psychological effects.

Seeing Hong Tao in front of him, a slight twinge of discomfiture swept through Yan Liqiang’s heart. But then, when he remembered all the conduct, deeds and evil schemes of the Hong Clan, that twinge in his heart flew unimaginably far away in the blink of an eye.

The Hong Clan had brought this upon themselves. He thought about it from another perspective. If he hadn’t been reincarnated, and didn’t cultivate the Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing, the Yan Clan would probably be Liuhe Town’s decimated clan instead. And he probably wouldn’t be any better than the current Hong Tao.

As the saying goes: ‘One should not impose on others what he himself does not desire’. Sometimes, the spit you cast out might just fly back to your own face. Perhaps the Hong Clan never expected the things they tried to impose on others would befall upon themselves in the end.

In just less than a week, Liuhe Town’s once-influential Hong Clan had vanished in a puff of smoke.

The flames that spread through the Hong Residence had only burned one storeroom, as well as the kitchen next to it, before the fire was extinguished. The fire hadn’t killed anyone, but all the key decision makers in the Hong Clan had died that night. The next day, after someone discovered Hong An’s corpse in the forest at the foot of Mount Hundred Zhang, several stewards, guards, and concubines of the Hong Clan fled with some of the Hong Clan’s wealth that very night.

After the death of the Hong Clan’s people, before the seventh day had passed and before they were even buried, a few of Hong Tao’s disappointing male cousins were already fighting over the Hong Clan’s properties. The fight within the clan was alarmingly unpleasant.

Hong Chengshou’s two daughters–and their respective husband’s clans–returned with the excuse of attending the funeral, and then also involved themselves in the fight over the Hong Clan’s properties. Even now, no one was bothering to sort out the burned down buildings in the Hong Residence. Everyone was too busy moving the clan’s possessions outside. They fought against each other for the manor and the land, eventually bringing the dispute to the court. There would always be someone yelling and making a racket all day long at home. Half of the guards and servants had already left since long ago.

A Hong Clan like this was no longer something worth worrying about.

A few dozen brand-new wanted posters for King Cobra were tacked up on the bulletin board at the public square in town. This time, the portraits distributed by the Qinghe County Law Enforcement Office no longer looked like paintings done by Vincent Van Gogh with a calligraphy brush. Instead, they were much more detailed now. King Cobra’s triangular eyes and the mole on his left cheek were at least more prominent now.

Hong Ding was the Town Constable of Liuhe Town. He could be considered a bureaucrat of the most basic level. Hong Rong was also a member of the Law Enforcer Office in Qinghe County, and pretty much a lower ranking officer. These two had connections with the public, so naturally, their lives were a little more valuable. In addition to the many recent deaths in the Hong Clan, their influence had worsened, and Qinghe County’s entire Law Enforcement Office had been in turmoil over the past few days.

After taking one last glance at Hong Tao, Yan Liqiang once again renewed his conviction. He lightly shook his reins, and the rhinodrake steed started galloping to the town’s exit.

Yan Liqiang wasn’t even a li away from Liuhe Town when he came across a group of three people riding rhinodrake steeds towards the town’s entrance. Among the three of them, two had fierce appearances, and did not appear very amiable. The only one who made eye contact with him was the slightly thinner person who seemed like a bookkeeper.

“Excuse me, young man. Is Liuhe Town up ahead?” As the two parties drew close, the one who looked like a bookkeeper suddenly slowed down. His eyes briefly scanned Yan Liqiang and the guard from Lu Clan, then plastered on a fake smile as he asked his question politely.

“That’s right. Liuhe Town is just up ahead!” Yan Liqiang nodded.

“Do you happen to know where I can find the Hong Residence?” One of the fierce-looking men interrupted impatiently.

“What business do you have with the Hong Clan?”

The man who seemed like a bookkeeper gave another insincere smile. “Oh, well, Hong An from the Hong Clan owes us some money. I heard that he’s dead, so we’re looking for the Hong Clan to collect our debt...”

“Hong Clan is a rich clan in Liuhe Town. You’ll know just by asking anyone after you arrive in town...”

“Thank you!”

The two parties passed each other on the road. After a distance of about a hundred meters, Yan Liqiang turned around to look at their silhouettes charging towards Liuhe Town on their rhinodrake steeds. They gave Yan Liqiang the impression of some vultures that had smelled death, flapping their wings as they flew towards their fallen prey.

The Hong Clan was left with only orphans and widows, and the people in charge were all dead. The Hong Clan’s reputation was already tarnished, and they had lost their supporters. If anyone were to suddenly show up to call in a debt, there was no way the dead could testify against it. Hence, they could just lie and snatch a portion of the rights to the Hong Clan’s properties.

Yan Liqiang had seen similar occurrences in his past life. This typical move wasn’t any different than those he had seen in his previous life...

However, this no longer concerned him...

Shortly after, he arrived at the Qinghe County seat on his rhinodrake steed. The wanted posters for King Cobra were also pasted on the entrance gate. The soldier who stood guard at the gate was scanning the faces of every person entering the county seat. Those with bamboo hats were asked to take it off. Those riding on carriages were asked to get out.

There was already a massive crowd forming outside of the martial arts academy...

Similar to the sight he had seen outside the college entrance exam venue in his past life, whenever an exam candidate entered the school’s exam hall, countless parents and guardians would wait expectantly and anxiously outside the hall for their own children to come out.

The annual Martial Arts County Trial Examination was no different from the college entrance exam for the majority. It was even more important than the college entrance exam itself because for most of the common folks, this represented the birth of a noble son from a poor and humble family as well as the chance to get their big break.

Youths who performed exceptionally well in the Martial Arts County Trial Examination could enter the prefectural city’s martial arts academy to pursue their studies and could hope to become a Martial Warrior, advancing as a gentry. Even if they weren’t capable of becoming a Martial Warrior in the end, the chance to study in the prefecture’s first class martial arts academy housed a lot of advantages as well. It allowed the students to widen their network in the martial arts academy and make many friends. There was also the fact that they could perhaps even have the chance to be recruited into all levels of prefecture and county government offices because every year, each prefecture and county government offices would have many jobs available – they would always go to the prefectural city’s martial arts academy to make their selections.

In a sense, the Martial Arts County Trial Examination was equivalent to the junction between the Great Han Empire’s entrance exam and the office-bearer exam. There were a total of seventeen towns in Qinghe County and there were seven to eight hundred exam candidates every year. If there were a lot of students, the numbers could shoot up to the thousands, and only around thirty people could have the chance to pass the Martial Arts County Trial Examination to enter the prefectural city’s martial arts academy. This acceptance percentage was much lower than the other entrance exams.

After handing over the rhinodrake steed to Lu Clan’s guard, Yan Liqiang finally walked through the entrance of the martial arts academy in the midst of innumerable parents lining the streets in welcome.

There were four entrances at the main entrance of the martial arts academy. Every entrance had the name of Qinghe County’s towns written on them. Candidates coming from different places would enter through different doors respectively to go into the martial arts academy. There were three men inspecting the identity of those who entered at every entrance. It was extremely strict.

“Name?”

“Yan Liqiang!”

“Where are you from?”

“Liuhe Town!”

The man interrogated Yan Liqiang while flipping the book in his hand. He nodded his head after he flipped to the page where the candidates’ names of Liuhe Town were listed and saw that Yan Liqiang’s name was recorded in it. He then requested Yan Liqiang to stick out his right thumb and ink the thumb on the red ink case before leaving behind a thumbprint on the back of the register.

This thumbprint happened to be placed in the same line as the print which Yan Liqiang had left when he participated in the preliminary exam for easier comparison. Upon seeing that the two thumbprints were the same, only then could they verify Yan Liqiang’s identity. The man then gave the register to the person next to him to examine it for a brief moment. The person nodded and the third person took out a metal plate with a number engraved on it. He wrote Yan Liqiang’s name on the metal plate before handing it over to Yan Liqiang. Only then did Yan Liqiang enter the county’s martial arts academy with the metal plate in hand.

There was still around an hour left before the start of the exam and there were already six to seven hundred candidates assembling at the martial arts academy’s training grounds. Nine arenas had been set up in succession on the training grounds. On the largest arena in the center of everything hung a horizontal banner that read ‘Qinghe County’s Martial Arts County Trial Exam of Pingxi Prefecture’.

On the actual day of the examination, the candidates who entered the field were both feeling exhilarated and anxious. Candidates who came from the same region were all huddled together, each and every single one of them whispering to each other’s ears Some candidates were also performing various kinds of warm up exercises or warm ups on their fist arts.

Candidates coming from different towns had their own designated assembly area. Those areas would have a banner with the name of their town written on it on one side. Depending on where the candidates were from, they were required to assemble under their respective banners. Having the system set up in such a way not only made it easier to manage but it was also to prevent others from assuming a candidate’s name to take his place. Due to the reason that candidates from the same region would be familiar with each other since they had at least met before, should a stranger appear all of a sudden, they would immediately detect it. According to the Great Han Empire’s laws, for those who dared to impersonate a candidate and cheat in the martial arts examination, both parties would be charged with serious crimes. This would result in banishment and they would be sent away to serve a penal sentence.

Yan Liqiang swept his eyes over the training grounds and saw Liuhe Town’s banner. He then calmly walked towards the assembly area where the candidates of Liuhe Town were gathered.

The candidates from Liuhe Town had also caught sight of the approaching Yan Liqiang. Each and every single one of them whispered to another’s ear.

“Ah, Yan Liqiang is here...”

“Could it be that the injuries he sustained that time have already healed?”

“Perhaps it’s healed. Even if it didn’t, he should at least come and try!”

“It’s such a shame. If a tragedy hadn’t fallen onto Hong Tao’s household, Hong Tao definitely could beat the crap out of Yan Liqiang...”

Everyone saw Yan Liqiang but none of them came over to greet him out of their own accord. Back in Liuhe Town, Yan Liqiang wasn’t exactly popular.

Qi Donglai was also amongst them. When he saw Yan Liqiang, he wanted to head over but hesitated. In the end, he didn’t make a move and guiltily avoided Yan Liqiang’s gaze.

On the other hand, Yan Liqiang was staring at Qi Donglai as he walked over, coming to a halt before him.

Up until this point in time, Yan Liqiang already found out clearly how did the Hong Clan bribed Qi Donglai two months ago. As a matter of fact, it was both ridiculous and sad, all the Hong Clan did was to give a good piece of land of theirs in Liuhe Town to Qi Donglai’s family to open a rice shop. They seemed to have also waived Qi Donglai’s family a couple of years of rent. Qi Donglai sold himself away just like that.

Now that tragedy had plagued the Hong Clan, their clan members were fighting over the properties so Qi Donglai’s family’s rice shop was taken back. Two days ago, Qi Donglai’s parents even went to the county town office to file a lawsuit, complaining that the rice shop was promised to them a few months ago free of rent for ten years. Now that the Hong Clan decided not to rent it to them anymore, they wanted to reclaim it and had gone back on their words. However, Qi Donglai’s parents were incapable of showing solid proof and had no evidence to back up their story. In the end, the officers treated them as if they were trying to extort money so they were driven out of the county town’s government office.

“Donglai, it’s been a long while!”

Qi Donglai gave an unnatural smile, seemingly not used to Yan Liqiang’s imperious glare. “For the past few days, I have been staying in the prefectural city for the exam. My uncle found me a master to teach me a set of leg techniques. I was so caught up in training for these few days so I didn’t return. I only heard that something bad happened in your home after I came back yesterday. I’m truly sorry that I didn’t go and visit your father...”

With one glance alone, Yan Liqiang was able to see through Qi Donglai’s hypocritical show of cordiality.

Yan Liqiang smiled. “It’s alright. Su Chang stopped by already. If you came instead, I wouldn’t have been at ease!”

“What’s there to worry about?”

Yan Liqiang’s gaze suddenly turned incisive. “My father is recuperating now. He won’t be able to bear getting bitten by another ice ant that someone places on him!”

Qi Donglai’s complexion turned ghastly pale as his expression completely froze in place. “Liqiang... You... What’re talking about? How come I don’t understand what you’re saying?”

“I know you understand. You know clearly that I know why I lost terribly in the previous preliminary exam and who had secretly placed the ice ant on my body. You know it better than me!” said Yan Liqiang like it was a tongue-twister. Then he coldly added, “Placing consideration on the tiny bit of friendship that we shared before, Qi Donglai, I’ll forgive you this once. But from today onwards, we’re strangers. You don’t know who I am and I have no idea who you are. Bear in mind that there’s no next time. Lastly, let me offer you a piece of advice, there are witnesses everywhere. A lot of times, no matter what people do, God is watching them, so stop doing things that go against your conscience...”

After he finished talking to Qi Donglai, Yan Liqiang went off without sparing Qi Donglai another glance.

Qi Donglai’s complexion suddenly flushed multiple shades of green and red in an instant. Upon hearing their conversation, the people surrounding them also cast a thoughtful glance at Qi Donglai as though they had figured something out. In all of Liuhe Town,, there wasn’t a single person who didn’t know that the Hong Clan had hired an assassin to kill the father of the Yan family and his son. After listening in on what Yan Liqiang said, it seemed that in the preliminary exam last time, the reason as to why Yan Liqiang was crushed by Hong Tao was due to Qi Donglai playing tricks in the shadows.

Qi Donglai had always been Yan Liqiang’s friend. Having friend like this was simply too frightening.

Unknowingly, the gazes that everyone cast at Qi Donglai changed. Each and every single one of them put some distance between them and Qi Donglai until in the end, nobody was at his side. He was the only one standing alone on his own.

This was the price Qi Donglai had to pay. Since he could even betray his friend, then he shouldn’t wish to have any other friends in the future. Anyone would avoid someone like him. For this kind of person, could it be that he still had the duty of hiding his dirty secret for him?

If Yan Liqiang couldn’t pay back kindness with kindness and seek vengeance if there was enmity, then how different would he be from a salted fish?

Only now did the Hong Clan’s affairs completely come to an end.

Yan Liqiang finally felt invigorated...

As for the remaining amount of time, Yan Liqiang never intended to chat with the surrounding crowd, so he stood under the Liuhe Town banner as he waited silently.

After about forty minutes had, followed by the three beats of the drum, a group emerged from the martial arts academy, prompting all the training grounds to instantly be enveloped by silence...

Everyone in the group that came out of the martial arts academy was dressed in official robes. The person who walked at the front was the headmaster of Qinghe County’s martial arts academy. He was a middle-aged man who appeared to be in his fifties and had a tanned face, a thick beard, and also a seemingly dignified fortitude. Beside the headmaster was also a scholarly man in his forties with a fair and clean-shaven face. Both of them walked at the frontmost position. The two people behind that trailed behind them were some bureaucrats.

The exam candidates were quite worked up at the appearance of Qinghe County martial arts academy’s headmaster because this headmaster was a very famous figure in Qinghe County. His surname was Shen and he was known as Shen Hongbing. He was the clan head of the Shen Clan in Qinghe County and he was also the headmaster of the Qinghe County’s martial arts academy. Not only that but everyone also knew that he was a ‘great expert’ and was Qinghe County’s ‘legendary figure’ after he established his foundation and became a Martial Warrior. He managed to move another step further in his martial arts cultivation and successfully advanced into the realm of being a Martial Master.

The position of Shen Clan in Qinghe County was almost akin to the position of the Lu Clan in the Huanglong County. Both were large clans and were local tyrants with immense power within their respective counties.

He heard that this Shen Hongbing either cultivated or went out to visit his friends on normal days. Although he was the headmaster of the martial arts academy, it was almost impossible to see him in the academy. He might not even show up in the martial arts academy to host the examination during the martial arts examination period. Well, at the very least he had never shown up for a martial arts examination, including last year and the year before that. So this year, his appearance caused a commotion on the training grounds. Many exam candidates were indescribably excited as each and everyone of them craned their necks to catch a glimpse of Shen Hongbing who was making his way towards the arena in the center.

Yan Liqiang’s gaze was also affixed on this Shen Hongbing.

His powerful perception that was tempered from Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing cultivation allowed Yan Liqiang to instantly sense the formidable strength within Shen Hongbing’s body as soon as he came out. In Yan Liqiang’s perception, he could sense a different aura and might on Shen Hongbing which stood out from the commonfolk. They were akin to a ferocious tiger, extremely capable. When he walked past Yan Liqiang at a proximate distance, Yan Liqiang could feel the immense energy in his every step on the blue bricks. He walked at a normal pace and yet the strength from his feet was equivalent to how an average people would stomp on the floor with force.

He heard that one would be able to carry out internal cultivation after opening their dantian and establishing their foundation. Only people who cultivated internal cultivation would be able to possess immense power with their every movement. Not only that but they were also able to bring many martial techniques and secret techniques to their peak potentials.

Without a doubt, the people who managed to advance to become Martial Masters were definitely cultivating some sort of internal cultivation techniques.

Yan Liqiang was very curious about the internal cultivation technique that Shen Hongbing had been cultivating.

The person walking beside Shen Hongbing had a temperament that paralleled Shen Hongbing. He was refined. Shen Hongbing was like a scorching fireball while this man was like the wind. His feet landed on the ground extremely lightly.

The exam candidates that were present on the scene including Yan Liqiang seemed to have no idea who he was. However, the temperament of this person walking alongside Shen Hongbing wasn’t any inferior to him. Not only that, Shen Hongbing seemed to be very courteous towards this person. The two of them walked together but the strides that Shen Hongbing took wouldn’t exceed this person.

Yan Liqiang sensed that the realm of this person with a refined temperament was definitely not lower than Shen Hongbing. He couldn’t quite put his finger on why he even had a feeling that this refined man seemed to be slightly superior of the two.

The group passed through the training grounds and directly went into the arena in the middle and stood in a line.

Shen Hongbing, who was in the middle, took a step forward. With a solemn face, he spoke up in a loud voice. “To all the exam candidates. Before this Martial Arts County Trial Examination begins, I’d like to introduce someone to you all. Standing beside me is the academy tutor from the Pingxi Prefecture Martial Arts Academy, Shi Changfeng, Lord Shi. Today, Lord Shi has some good news to share with all the exam candidates...”

Standing in the arena, Shi Changfeng politely who stood on the arena told Shen Hongbing, “Headmaster Shen, you are being too courteous. It doesn’t matter if the headmaster is the one to announce this news!”

“Oh no, oh no, the news will be more exciting if Lord Shi is the one to announce it!” Shen Hongbing declined with a smile.

Both of them exchanged a few modest words with each other on the arena before Shi Changfeng stopped being courteous and took two steps forward. “Everyone, the Pingxi Prefecture Martial Arts Academy has always taken it up upon themselves to develop talented individuals in the Pingxi Prefecture. Qinghe County has always been a place where the talented individuals of the Pingxi Prefecture pour forth. This year, the Pingxi Prefecture Martial Arts Academy shall recruit fifty exam candidates from Qinghe County. This recruitment number far exceeds the number from previous years. This also means that more people among the exam candidates will have the chance to join the Pingxi Prefecture Martial Arts Academy. Not only that but any exam candidates that specialize in spear techniques and the art of archery may show them here today. The Pingxi Prefecture Martial Art Academy shall offer a special recruitment for these individuals...”

What? The Pingxi Prefecture Martial Arts Academy is going to recruit fifty people this year? Isn’t that almost twice the number compared to last year? This also means that the exam candidates who participate in this year’s martial arts examination will also have a higher chance of getting into the Pingxi Prefecture Martial Arts Academy.

After every exam candidate on the training field recovered from their daze, they immediately cheered. Quite a few were extremely excited and they were all eager to get into action.

Unlike the people around him, Yan Liqiang was neither smiling nor happy after hearing this news. He instead frowned a little as his brain spun quickly. He had learned from his experience in his past life that there was no such thing as free lunch in this world. Just when you thought a pancake had fallen onto your head, most of the time there wasn’t any second pancake behind that pancake but a bomb instead.

Shi Changfeng had announced that there would be an increase in the number of recruitments, but he didn’t explain the reason behind the recruitment. He had put it quite vaguely, and that was exactly where the problem was.

To imagine the ruling classes of an enormous country as too kind or too dumb would be a childish thing to do. Although Yan Liqiang was only fourteen years old in age, he was actually not that naive anymore. If there was a time that you thought a ruling class was being too kind or too dumb, chances were that you didn’t know what they were planning behind the scenes and you didn’t possess the information they had in your hands. The many impressions you had towards the ruler was a misconception that was simply caused by false information.

However, at this moment, Yan Liqiang equally didn’t understand why he had managed to make it to such a ‘good timing’...

On the main arena, Shi Changfeng retreated a couple of steps back after he was done speaking, leaving some space in front to host the martial arts examination. Shen Hongbing moved forward. “I shall announce that this year’s Martial Arts County Trial Examination for Qinghe County of the Pingxi Prefecture has officially started!”

After the commencement announcement was made, Shen Hongbing and Shi Changfeng retreated to the seats behind the main arena. Both of them sat down like invigilators and watched from an elevated position that overlooked the training field and all the arenas. Those who had followed them out here were already making their way towards each arena on the training field as they began to host the examination.

An academy bureaucrat came over underneath the Liuhe Town flag and then took a look at Yan Liqiang and the rest. “Is there anyone who isn’t from the Liuhe Town among the exam candidates here? Or is there anyone suspects another of posing under a false name?”

Everyone understood that this was a formality and usual practice prior to the examination. The objective was to verify everyone’s identity and verify if anyone was cheating with a replacement among them. Everyone looked at each other and shook their heads. This was a very great way to do it. Any suspicious individual would be ferreted out in front of everybody right now because no one could possibly bribe all the exam candidates in the entire town. Even if they could, such a large scale of cheating would probably be known by everyone in Qinghe County. Except for twins, 9,999 out of 10,000 cheaters would be exposed at this stage.

That academy bureaucrat waited for half a minute. He nodded when he saw that there wasn’t anything unusual going on with everyone. “Well then, please proceed to your own respective arenas according to the arena number plate you have with you and begin the examination!”

Yan Liqiang took a glance at that metal number plate in his hand. There was a ‘C’ at the topmost part of that metal plate and number ‘64’ in the middle. On the bottom was his name that was written by the person at the entrance just now.

He didn’t delay for a moment longer as he quickly strode over to the Arena C with the number plate in his hand. When he arrived at Arena C, he immediately put his number plate into the wooden box in front of the arena.

In just less than a minute, all the exam candidates that were assigned to Arena C had gathered here. Only four of these candidates were from the Liuhe Town while the rest were from other towns in Qinghe County.

The judge, the academy bureaucrat, and the rest also quickly got into their positions on the arena.

An academy bureaucrat stopped in front of the wooden box that contained the number plates. He picked up the wooden box and shook it vigorously for a moment before pulling on a small mechanism underneath the box, causing two number plates to fall out at the same time. The academy bureaucrat then held the two number plates high and showed it around for awhile. “Number 11, Su Zhihe, and number 75, Huang Xiaotian, please proceed to the arena...”

The two young men below the arena took deep breaths before walking out from the crowd at the same time and went up the arena. They stood outside on the two red lines that were three meters apart from each other and cupped their fists in their hands towards each other in greetings.

“START...!” The martial arts academy judge in the arena wasted no time and ordered for them to begin.

The examination involved hand-to-hand combat. Every tournament round would roughly last around five minutes at most. Within this span of five minutes, they would have to either knock down the opponent and hit them off the arena or hold a clear advantage over the opponent during the course of the tournament. Either of these would grant them victory. Those who were evenly matched would then progressively move on to the next round of choosing new opponents to fight.

The five minutes alone was already sufficient to decide the victor for youngsters around Yan Liqiang’s age. In actuality, the most of the time needed to determine the victor in the arena would be within the span of two minutes. Half of the outcome could be determined within one minute alone. The strength of both parties such as reaction, speed, as well as the minute disparity in the capability of adapting to changes could determine the outcome of one battle in a split second.

The candidates who lost would immediately be disqualified. The judge hosting the arena as well as the martial arts academy personnel would take back the number plate from the losing party. This also meant that the loser had lost the qualifications to continue the examination. Although they could still remain inside the martial arts academy, they could only be spectators.

He heard that those who lost the martial arts examination before would usually be asked to leave the martial arts academy. However, due to the fact that for some of them left the martial arts academy during the early stages of the examination–when facing the onlookers’ scrutinizing gazes outside the martial arts academy–the stress brought by the immense setback would make them unable to face the overwhelming pressure, leading them to turn to suicide in the end. Thus, the rules of the martial arts academy were later changed. Those who lost could still remain to continue observing after they lost their qualifications and would leave together with the audience after the examination ended.

The tournaments in the nine arenas within the martial arts academy happened at the same time. A victor would emerge every minute and there would always be a candidate’s number plate being confiscated.

Yan Liqiang stood underneath the arena observing the tournament happening on it. Two years ago, he had felt that the tournament confrontation on the arena was considerably intense but after watching it again, he began to feel that everyone’s strength on the arena was too small, their speeds were too slow and their reactions were slightly rigid. In his opinion, there wasn’t any point in studying them.

‘BANG...’–A candidate in Arena C was sent a maneuvering kick in the chest by his opponent and was instantly knocked down from the arena. With this, the tournament also ended.

The candidate that was kicked down from the arena suffered some minor injuries but they weren’t severe. After he got back on his feet, he forlornly rejoined the crowd. The candidate in the arena received his own number plate back and proceeded to stand at the other side of the arena. The victor and the loser were already obvious.

Inside the wooden box underneath the arena, another two numbers were drawn out at random.

“The next group, number 64 Yan Liqiang and number 19 Guo Mingyi, please proceed to the arena...”

When he heard his name, Yan Liqiang immediately went up the stairs on the left into the arena. He stood properly on it, facing his opponent named Guo Mingyi. The man looked to be around the age of seventeen or eighteen, a young man who was older than Yan Liqiang by three to four years. The edges of his lips were already covered in a layer of light stuble. On top of that, Guo Mingyi’s body build was extremely sturdy. Among the many candidates in Arena C, his stature could be ranked amongst the top three.

The moment the fourteen-year-old Yan Liqiang stood along with Guo Mingyi on the arena, it was evident that their physiques were completely different. Guo Mingyi was taller than Yan Liqiang by half a head, and his figure was also more sturdy.

In the Martial Arts County Trial Examination, all youths aged fourteen to eighteen were eligible to enter upon passing the preliminary exams. This was Yan Liqiang’s first time participating while some of the candidates here had already entered more than once. This probably wasn’t Guo Mingyi’s first time participating. To true martial arts practitioners, when they turn eighteen, what determined the disparity in the strength between both parties wasn’t their natural born bodies but the hardships, the sweat, and the realm of their training. The further they went, the more unimportant the age became. But after they reached eighteen years of age, those candidates who were older would still have an advantage in terms of their physique.

There were also quite a number of candidates around Yan Liqiang’s age who entered the examination at fourteen years of age. But the majority of those candidates weren’t able to pass the preliminary rounds. Even if some of them managed to pass, the reason why they entered the examination in the first year was for the sake of accumulating their experience so they could prepare for the examination in the following year. Those who were similar to Yan Liqiang in being fourteen years of age were the youngest amongst all candidates. Beneath Arena C stood a total of three. As for the others, they were all basically youths aged fifteen to eighteen who were older than Yan Liqiang.

With a distance of three meters, the two stood outside the red line of the arena. They cupped their fists at each other.

A confident smile revealed itself on Guo Mingyi’s countenance when he gazed at Yan Liqiang.

On the other hand, Yan Liqiang’s face appeared extremely indifferent and calm.

Right at this moment, the scenes that flashed past in Yan Liqiang’s mind were the two devastating wounds King Cobra had left on Yan Dechang’s body as well as Yan Dechang living frugally and bearing bitter hardship for many years just for the sake of letting him concentrate on training martial arts...

I must win first place. In this martial arts examination, I must rank at the top in Qinghe County!

A voice resonated from within Yan Liqiang. It became louder and louder.

And this number one title was not for the sake of anyone else but for the sake of allowing Yan Dechang the chance to see the returns he made by investing in him for all these years.

Lions and tigers hunt for fame, but who takes pity on the moose? If a moose didn’t want to end up being a prey, then it should become a highly terrifying, revered lion and tiger...

Yan Liqiang’s expression became determined.

“START!” The judge’s voice sounded out. Standing from across Yan Liqiang, Guo Mingyi instantly rushed towards him without hesitation, striking out with a direct and efficient Black Tiger Yanks the Heart move, right at Yan Liqiang’s chest.

But just when Guo Mingyi’s fist was on the verge of hitting Yan Liqiang’s body, all of a sudden–‘AOO...’–a loud ferocious roar abruptly thundered across the entire training grounds of the martial arts academy, instantly enveloping the clamors in the arena. As the voice rang out, Yan Liqiang’s fist had already collided with Guo Mingyi’s fists without any little tricks. A loud horrifying scream erupted from Guo Mingyi, and his entire body was sent flying, heavily thrown three meters away. He was unable to get up already in just a short amount of time.

In the midst of the thundering tiger roar, a green illusory image appeared behind Yan Liqiang’s back which was the Dharmic projection of a vicious South China tiger.

In that brief moment, the judge of Arena C, the academy bureaucrat of the martial arts academy, along with the audience underneath the arena were struck dumb. Each and every single one of them was stupefied as they stared dumbfoundedly at the Dharmic projection which appeared behind Yan Liqiang’s body as though they had seen a ghost in broad daylight. All of them inhaled a sharp breath of cold air.

...

“Tiger Roaring Consecutive Fist....already at the realm of the fourth layer...” Seated atop the audience seat above the first arena in heart of the training grounds was the current academy tutor of the martial arts academy of the Pingxi Prefecture, Shi Changfeng. His eyes flickered with extraordinary splendor as he watched the spectacle that unfolded in Arena C. Turning his head around, he shot a puzzling glance at the similarly stupefied Shen Hongbing. “Qinghe County is indeed a place propitious for giving birth to great men and has many men with concealed talents. I don’t know how long it has been since I last seen such an outstanding youth in the Martial Arts County Trial Examination. It is evident that this young man has attained the Horse Stance stage. On top of that, his accomplishments were not shallow. Based on this youth’s strength alone, he should already have been netted top three and could have been exempted from participating in today’s arena match. He should have instantly been competing with those candidates who had entered the top 100. May I know why that youth still fighting in Arena C?”

Even Shen Hongbing had a stomach full of doubts. He gestured and an academy bureaucrat from the martial arts academy swiftly ran to his side. After Shen Hongbing lightly whispered to him, the academy bureaucrat nodded his head before leaving posthaste.

...

“Can the outcome be announced now?” Yan Liqiang couldn’t help but issue a gentle reminder upon seeing that the judge in the arena was still in a trance. He drew back his fists and stood properly as the Dharmic projection of a vicious tiger gradually disappeared from his body.

The judge on the arena swallowed thickly as he gazed deeply at Yan Liqiang for a brief moment as though he wanted to etch Yan Liqiang into his memories. Then, he loudly announced, “Number 64, Yan Liqiang wins!”

Guo Mingyi grimaced in pain as he stood up shakily. The fist which had collided with Yan Liqiang just now was already swollen, burning with pain. On top of that, his entire hand from the arm to the fist was numb right now. However, he could still clench his fist and could still exert some force. This meant that the bones in his hand were not broken, there were only some bruises.

He stared at Yan Liqiang with surprise as well as terror. The Tiger Roaring Consecutive Fists of the fourth layer–if Yan Liqiang didn’t withdraw the force of his fist–it would be sufficient enough to shatter all the bones in his palm when they collided with that much force just now. The moment they hit each other, Guo Mingyi felt that Yan Liqiang had already been lenient on him by only making him suffer slightly and wasn’t cruel with his attack.

The difference in their strength was too wide so a defeat was well within expectations. Having suffered no fractures and serious injuries was absolutely a matter worthy to be rejoicing about.

“Thank you for showing mercy...” Guo Mingyi panted hoarsely. He kneaded his fist before cupping them at Yan Liqiang.

“You went easy on me!” Yan Liqiang wasted no time and cupped his fists courteously at Guo Mingyi. He then received his own number plate given to him by the judge and stood to the side where the victors of Arena C were.

The previous winners of Arena C were nervous when they saw Yan Liqiang approaching. After the battles ended in Arena C, there would be a showdown between them. With Yan Liqiang’s skills, none of the victors from Arena C were his match. Whoever met him later on could only resign themselves to the fate of being disqualified. Everyone could only pray and hope their luck was better.

An academy bureaucrat came over to Arena C and talked to a couple of personnel from the martial arts academy in the arena. After casting a glance at Yan Liqiang, he then left in a hurry.

...

The examination inside the martial arts academy was still in progress. The exception was that after Yan Liqiang’s performance just now, Arena C unexpectedly and instantly became the stage that attracted the spectators the most amongst all the arenas. It was unknown as to how many people were silently scrutinizing Yan Liqiang.

Yan Liqiang continued to wait with a calm expression on his face.

He knew at this moment that not putting on a facade was the best course of pretension.

...

The first round of the tournament in Arena C hadn’t ended yet and a martial arts academy bureaucrat had already come to the arena to pass on the news to Yan Liqiang. After the discussion between the martial arts academy’s headmaster and the current academy tutor of the martial arts academy of Pingxi Prefecture, Yan Liqiang was exempted from entering the next few rounds of the tournament and could directly head over to Arena A to wait so he could compete in the last tournament with the other 100 outstanding candidates.

When all the exam candidates at the Arena C heard that Yan Liqiang wouldn’t have to stay there to continue in the competition, each and every one of them secretly breathed a sigh of relief. There were still a few rounds to go, if Yan Liqiang was going to stay there, that would be too much pressure for everyone else.

Soon after that, Yan Liqiang, under the lead of the academy bureaucrat and the envious and astonished gazes of countless exam candidates in the surrounding area, passed through the dense crowds and the few arenas that were currently hosting the fights at the side, and was directly led to the front of the audience seats in Arena A.

“Greetings, Headmaster Shen and Lord Shi!” Yan Liqiang bowed towards Shen Hongbing and Shi Changfeng neither humbly nor arrogantly.

Shen Hongbing and Shi Changfeng both looked Yan Liqiang up and down with their keen and sparkling eyes. While Yan Liqiang was in Arena C, they only saw him from the side and there was also some distance between them, so both of them couldn’t get a clear view of Yan Liqiang. Now that Yan Liqiang was brought in front of them, only then they realized that he was quite young and that surprised both of them. Yan Liqiang’s countenance was simply too young compared to the mostly sixteen or seventeen-year-old youths here today.

“How old are you this year?” Shi Changfeng immediately asked.

“Fourteen!”

“This is also your first time participating the martial arts examination?”

“Yes!”

Shi Changfeng laughed, extremely happy. “Not bad, not bad at all! I have been in Pingxi Prefecture Martial Arts Academy for many years and during the Martial Arts County Trial Examination every year, I have toured all around the counties in the prefecture. I haven’t met a fourteen-year-old who has already trained the Tiger Roaring Consecutive Fist technique to that level for many years. Such a rare, rare opportunity indeed! It seems like Pingxi Prefecture Martial Arts Academy will be recruiting another young elite today from Qinghe County!”

“Thank you, Lord Shi, for your flattering compliment! Liqiang is only a little lucky. Qinghe County has many talented people and is a place where the elites gather. I will do my utmost in the competitions later and fight for the opportunity to be enrolled in Pingxi Prefecture Martial Arts Academy!”

Despite Yan Liqiang’s young age, he was still being modest and prudent at this moment without any signs of short temper or arrogance that young people had. He also knew how to speak appropriately and had the demeanor akin to that of an influential clan’s disciple. This made Shi Changfeng even more impressed by him as he inwardly nodded in approval.

“Judging from the maturity of the Tiger Roaring Consecutive Fist technique that you used in the arena today, it’s evident that a lot of time has been devoted to it. Why were you kicked out of the arena so easily during the preliminary exam two months ago and even sustained heavy injuries? Could it be that you purposely yielded because you received benefits from someone?”

Shen Hongbing also spoke up. Within this short period of time, he had already sent people out to ask around about Yan Liqiang’s background and had found out about the incident during the preliminary exam. Because of this, Shen Hongbing couldn’t understand why Yan Liqiang was so weak during the preliminary exam.

Of course, the conversation between Yan Liqiang and Qi Donglai wouldn’t travel so fast to Shen Hongbing and Shi Changfeng’s ears. Shi Changfeng had the same question in his heart too, this was what astonished both of them the most.

Without a doubt, Yan Liqiang wasn’t going to tell anyone that his Tiger Roaring Consecutive Fist technique had consecutive breakthroughs within these two months. If the truth was exposed, he reckoned that he would be dissected and by then maybe even the secret of the Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing Manual wouldn’t be safe. Fortunately, Yan Liqiang already had a plan in mind.

“On the preliminary exam day, I was ambushed. When I was fighting with my opponent, I got bitten by an ice ant and that ultimately led me to defeat and my serious injury!” When Yan Liqiang recounted the incident from two months ago, he didn’t even have to put on an act. He only had to slightly adjust his emotion and the anger shown on his face. His acting skill was so off the charts that it could even put Leonardo DiCaprio to shame.

“PREPOSTEROUS!” Shi Changfeng immediately flew off the handle. Despite his refined temperament, his eyes instantly blazed with anger, he was extremely furious. As the academy tutor of Pingxi Prefecture Martial Arts Academy, he was sent to patrol every county on the exam day. This was for the sake of invigilating the exam, to prevent any sort of tampering, bribery or fraud during the exam. Yan Liqiang’s misfortune was exactly what he was supposed to prevent with his utmost effort, yet it still befell him. “That person who fought you that day might be here. What is his name? I will get someone to bring him here to question on the spot. If it is really as you have claimed, the Pingxi Prefecture Martial Arts Academy shall ban him forever. Not only that, I will also report to the prefecture governor and get to the bottom of this!”

“That clan has fallen into a disaster over this period of time and he has gone mad a few days ago so he didn’t participate in the martial arts examination today!” Yan Liqiang answered.

Shi Changfeng was clearly taken aback while Shen Hongbing who was at the side seemed to have recalled something and leaned over to softly whisper something into Shi Changfeng’s ear. It was only then, the expression on Shi Changfeng’s face immediately relaxed while he quelled his anger. “This must be what they call divine retribution and just punishment. This is the end of these despicable people. You don’t need to be concerned about them, just do well today!”

“Yes!”

Shen Hongbing looked at Yan Liqiang and gave him a nod. “Go have a rest at the side. You’ll be joining the competition of the shortlisted one hundred candidates later!”

Yan Liqiang cupped his fist in salute towards Shi Changfeng and Shen Hongbing before retreating to take a rest in the audience area that was not too far from where they were, under the lead of the academy bureaucrat by his side.

There were already two other young men resting in the audience area. Both of them appeared to be around the age of sixteen or seventeen years old. One of them had a tanned and strongly built figure while the other looked a little like a disciple from a large clan. He was dressed in tastefully chosen training robes and was properly sitting upright. These two young men were those who had excelled and made it into top three along with Hong Tao during the preliminary exam so they had the privilege of skipping the first few rounds of fighting today. If there weren’t any accidents or dark horses, they would probably also be in the top three in this martial arts exam.

When the two young men saw Yan Liqiang come over, the gaze of their eyes landed on him almost at the same time as the expressions on both of their faces brimmed with interest.

“How do you do? I’m Shi Dafeng, from Langu Town...” That tanned and strongly built youth was the first to stand up and greet Yan Liqiang.

“I’m Shen Teng...” The youth that looked like a disciple of a large clan at the side also stood up and nodded at Yan Liqiang.

“Headmaster Shen is Shen Teng’s uncle...” Shi Dafeng grinned at the side, showing off his pearly whites as he supplemented some information on Shen Teng.

Shen Teng glared at him and snorted. “I got into the top three by relying on my strength and winning the martial arts competition in the arena. This has nothing to do with my uncle at all!”

Shi Dafeng laughed heartily and didn’t seem to mind.

Yan Liqiang smiled and then cupped his fist in greetings towards the two of them. “I am Yan Liqiang from Liuhe Town. I’ll have to ask both of you for guidance for today’s exam!”

“I’ve heard of you in the past, but I didn’t expect you to be this awesome!” Shi Dafeng was completely outspoken as he exclaimed without a care. “I have a relative in Liuhe Town, my younger male cousin. When I visited there with my father, I heard from my cousin that Blacksmith Yan of Liuhe Town has a very impressive son and that no other youths in the town can rival him. That person that he spoke of must have been you!”

“My father is indeed a blacksmith. I am only a little more diligent than the rest. Nothing really that impressive!”

“That’s enough. No need to be modest. Unimpressive individuals wouldn’t be sitting here!” Shi Dafeng wasn’t being modest at all. He gestured for Yan Liqiang to take a seat then sized him up again another two times. “I have only met that Hong Tao from before twice. To be honest, I don’t like that fellow in the slightest. I can’t shake off the feeling that the guy is shady. Even if he sat in front of you, he’d look at you out of the corner of his eyes. You can tell that he’s nothing good with just a glance. Little did I expect the Hong Clan to really reap what they sow in the end and got wiped out by King Cobra, though I think King Cobra has indeed done a good deed...”

“This must be their karma!” Yan Liqiang said calmly.

“Indeed. Just like what my father has always said, heaven isn’t blind...”

“That King Cobra isn’t a good person either!” In the end, the nature of his youth still prevailed. Shen Teng couldn’t help but speak up when heard Yan Liqiang and Shi Dafeng’s conversation from the side. “He isn’t doing a good deed in killing the people from Hong Clan but exacting his revenge. It’s a dog eat dog world. A person like him should be executed on the spot. He’s nothing but a calamity if left in this world...”

“Brother Shen is right. Someone like King Cobra should be killed!”

...

While the three of them chatted, the competitions in each arena were like raging wildfires. After merely two hours later, apart from Yan Liqiang and the other two, the other best ninety-seven young men who participated in this exam were also selected.

The final part of the competition was carried out in Arena A. The ninety-seven youths all gathered around; Yan Liqiang, Shi Dafeng and Shen Teng left the resting area to join the crowd of those young men and stood in front. Everyone’s number plates were taken away and once again put in a number-picking wooden box.

After a short moment, the final competition commenced.

Under everyone’s gaze, two numbers were pulled out for the first of the finals.

“B, number 25, Zhang Tianhua and D, number 91, Hu Yihu...”

Following the names that the academy bureaucrat had read out, two youths walked out of the crowd of a hundred people and went up the arena...

At this very moment, the one hundred youths that had qualified among the exam candidates that participated in the martial arts examination from Qinghe County could be considered the most outstanding ones in this batch. The slightly inferior ones in strength had all already been eliminated during the previous matches. The strength of the remaining candidates was definitely above average among their peers.

This year, fifty of these one hundred candidates would be eligible to get into the martial arts academy of Pingxi Prefecture. So this had, in turn, led to the stark contrast of the outcome in the subsequent fifty matches. The victor would ascend to heaven while the loser would descend into hell.

Yan Liqiang quietly watched the match on the stage from below the stage. Since the start of the first round, he realized that the matches in the arena had suddenly intensified. The youths on stage seemed to start giving their all in the matches as if their lives depended on it.

In the midst of the young and immature, yells, cries, injuries, bleeding or even fractures became a common sight. Everyone had already become inured to such misfortune. In the next few matches, the losers ended up being directly carried to the medical hall of the martial arts academy.

The cheers below the stage ceased as everyone watched the battle on stage in silence.

Both Shen Hongbing and Shi Changfeng still remained seated together in the audience seats on the stage with unchanging expressions on their faces. The looks on their faces were solemn while they occasionally exchanged a few words with each other, commenting on the situation of the match.

A person’s destiny was most often determined by either a match onstage or a deadly fight offstage.

In just the blink of an eye, the matches on Arena A had gone on for more than half an hour and there were already outcomes for eleven pairs of candidates. Eleven victors had successfully advanced into the top fifty strongest candidates at the expense of the eleven losers, thus gaining the eligibility of entering the martial arts academy of Pingxi Prefecture.

Under the great difference of failure and success, the fight on stage grew even more intense.

On stage at this moment, the twelfth group of youths was fighting each other, already struggling against each other for two minutes. All of a sudden, one youth suddenly broke through the other’s defense, his punch had left the other with a fully bloodied face. However, with a strange movement of his hand at the moment the fist collided with his face, that person with his face bloodied suddenly grabbed ahold of his opponent’s arm and the place between his thumb and forefinger. He then leaned to the side and locked the body of that youth that had punched him, with both of his legs. Both of them fell on the arena at the same time...

“STOP!” Shen Hongbing who was watching the battle immediately stopped the fight. The judge also hurriedly went up to separate the two people who were on the floor.

“The winner of this match is G, number 17, Zhu Haolong!” Shen Binghong subsequently announced the victor. G, number 17, Zhu Haolong was the youth had been beaten until his face was bloody just now. Upon hearing of his victory, Zhu Haolong wiped away the blood on his face and smiled brilliantly.

“Headmaster Shen, I don’t agree! Our battle hasn’t ended yet, I can still fight! So why is he pronounced the winner? I request to resume this match!” The face of the other youth turned red while he yelled with his fists tightly clenched, he seemed very agitated.

“Zhu Haolong gave you an opening on purpose just now so that you would hit him and then he could armlock you. That technique he used was from one of the techniques from Small Grabbing Hand [1], Python Entanglement. If it wasn’t for Headmaster Shen, Zhu Haolong would have used the power in his waist to turn over and subsequently break your right arm. How would you continue fighting then?” Shi Changfeng explained with an indifferent tone of voice while looking at that red-faced youth, “In this arena, the match is not only about brute force but also wisdom at the same time. Since you have the courage to fight, you are expected to know how to fight too.

When the red-faced youth heard Shi Changfeng’s words then recalled the situation just now, he instantly paled and unclenched his fists. He shot a look at the youth that had been beaten by him until his face was bleeding. Half of his face was already obviously swollen by now. He cupped his fists, then clenched his teeth and descended from the arena. The victor didn’t go down the arena, instead, he went directly to the audience seat in the arena to take a break and continued watching the match.

Yan Liqiang managed to learn a lot of lessons from this kind of match, reaping great benefits out of it.

The matches continued. Two number plates were drawn once again in front of the arena.

“Next round, one of the top three of the preliminary exam, Shi Dafeng, and B, number 11, Jin Nanguo...”

“Hahaha, it’s finally my turn...” Shi Dafeng, who was beside Yan Liqiang, laughed loudly while he cracked his knuckles then patted Yan Liqiang’s shoulder. “I shall go ahead and wait for you in the winners’ area. We shall have a good fight after the top ten honor roll has been decided!” He said with much pride.

After finishing his sentence, Shi Dafeng briskly walked up the stage. On the other hand, his opponent, the youth named Jin Nanguo, went up the stage with a depressed expression.

Naturally, there was nothing to doubt about the strength of one of the top three in the preliminary exam. Being chosen as an opponent to Shi Dafeng, the chances of that youth being eliminated was nearly guaranteed. He might not lose if his opponent was someone else, but faced with Shi Dafeng, the possibility of his victory was simply too slim. This was luck and sometimes, luck was also part of a cultivator’s strength.

At the start of the match, Shi Dafeng made a beeline straight for Jin Nanguo.

Shi Dafeng flung out his fist. An explosive noise that sounded just like a loosened belt being snapped taut in a moment reverberated in the air. At the same time when Shi Dafeng flung out his fist, a brilliant light suddenly shone out from his body. Within that brilliance was an image of a black gibbon – it was evident that Shi Dafeng was cultivating the Full Arm Boxing technique. Not only that, it was a Full Arm Boxing technique that had attained the realm of the third layer, therefore giving rise to such phenomena.

Compared to Yan Liqiang’s Tiger Roaring Consecutive Fist technique that only possessed the realm of the fifth layer, the Full Arm Boxing was at a higher level. This was a fist technique that possessed the realm of the sixth layer.

The Full Arm Boxing technique was a ferocious fist technique. It could be easily controlled and was flexible and ever-changing. Shi Dafeng unleashed the Full Arm Boxing techniques relentlessly within a single breath and mowed that youth down like a bulldozer. His every fist was unleashed at that youth named Jin Nanguo. He forged ahead without retreating, wearing out that youth who was warding off his attacks and leaving him with only one option, which was to evade his attacks. Finally, when the seventh fist was unleashed, that youth was forced to jump off the arena from Shi Dafeng’s attack.

Shi Dafeng ended this match directly and efficiently, claiming victory in just less than half a minute. However, the youth that was forced off the stage by him wasn’t really injured.

...

“Next round, F, number 34, Qi Donglai and H, number 87, Xiong Yihao...”

The fact that Qi Donglai managed to storm into the top one hundred during this examination was somewhat out of Yan Liqiang’s expectations. He had already seen Qi Donglai earlier, but he didn’t greet him and had instead treated him as if he was transparent. But Yan Liqiang was secretly quite baffled. Based on Qi Donglai’s past strength, Yan Liqiang thought that it was barely enough for him to qualify to officially participate in the martial arts examination. He wondered how Qi Donglai had managed to improve so much within such a short period of time.

Qi Donglai had an icy expression in the arena, he didn’t look at Yan Liqiang either. His opponent appeared to be a seventeen or eighteen-year-old youth, a year or two older than Qi Donglai. As soon as the match commenced, both of them were quickly tangled with each other.

Yan Liqiang watched Qi Donglai in the arena with his brows slightly knitted together. Qi Donglai had indeed undergone tremendous changes, regardless of speed or power. He was a completely different person from the one Yan Liqiang had known a few months ago. His current strength was more than double previously. Qi Donglai’s footwork was nimble, crafty and was not any inferior to his opponent. It was even rarer to observe another fierce power from within him. That youth who was older than Qi Donglai couldn’t gain an upper hand at all.

He had only managed to change wholly within this short two months because of the Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing Manual in his possession. Could it be that Qi Donglai managed to undergo a complete change because he encountered some sort of opportunity too?

Yan Liqiang was making conjectures in his heart. It wasn’t like he was jealous of Qi Donglai or anything. People like Qi Donglai put him on guard, so naturally, he’d pay closer attention to him. Qi Donglai had mentioned that he found a master to study leg techniques, but Yan Liqiang didn’t know if it was true or not. However, watching Qi Donglai’s current performance and the skill of his leg techniques, Yan Liqiang was certain that he had never seen that before. At first glance, it already exuded an icy cold aura.

Qi Donglai fought with his opponent on stage for more than three minutes. Both of them were evenly matched and they had both knocked each other down a few times, there was no sign of overwhelming dominance from either one of them. However, when more than four minutes had passed in their fight, Qi Donglai was beaten to the ground by his opponent’s elbow strike. But the moment he fell, his right leg violently slid out against the floor. His violent sideways kick collided directly with the opponent’s shin across from him.

“Kachaa...” A cracking noise rang out. From below the stage, Yan Liqiang could hear that person’s shin being broken from Qi Donglai’s kick.

The two of them fell down at almost the same time. Qi Donglai swayed as he got up, then wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and spat out two teeth. His opponent was, however, hugging his leg on the floor as he let out an agonized scream. Soon after that, he was taken away by someone from below the arena on a stretcher.

Qi Donglai’s technique from just now was extremely ruthless. It was a move that brought destruction on both parties, but since he was tougher than his opponent, that one move from him decided the outcome of the match.

“Winner, F, number 34, Qi Donglai...”

Qi Donglai accepted his number plate. He inadvertently looked at Yan Liqiang as a strange smile appeared on his face before he made his way towards the resting area of the winners with his head held high.

While Qi Donglai was full of himself earlier, he didn’t notice Shi Changfeng who was sitting in the audience seat behind him frowning slightly.

But Yan Liqiang did, and he couldn’t help but feel a stir in his heart.

...

More than twenty minutes after Qi Donglai’s match, it was finally Yan Liqiang’s turn.

His opponent this time was similarly a youth that was older than him by two or three years.

Upon discovering that he was matched up with Yan Liqiang, whose Tiger Roaring Consecutive Fist technique had stunned everyone, a hopeless expression emerged on that youth’s face when he came into the arena. As soon as the match began, that youth steeled himself with determination and went for broke. He bellowed with rage and without waiting for Yan Liqiang to come over, he charged towards Yan Liqiang of his own accord. He waved his arms like car wheels and acted like a desperate man ready to bring Yan Liqiang down together with him.

Yan Liqiang was slightly surprised before he smiled.

When his opponent was rushing towards him, Yan Liqiang quickly retreated three steps. He waited until that person had stormed in front of him before unleashing the Turning Drill Punch of the Tiger Roaring Consecutive Fist technique. He brought his left foot a step forward then rapidly did a hundred-eighty degree spin. With the light hook of his right leg and turning around to put his fist that had changed into a palm on that youth’s shoulder, he gave it a gentle push. Like a mad dog that threw itself to food, the feet of that youth left the ground as he was immediately pushed from the stage to below it.

The entire process was less than two seconds and it seemed like this was the shortest match in this martial arts examination.

The surrounding audience below the stage was silent for two seconds before they abruptly erupted into laughter when they saw the pathetic state the youth was in from being thrown off from the stage.

Shen Hongbing and Shi Changfeng glanced at each other before they both nodded at each other and smiles appeared on their faces. In their eyes, of course, they could see how Yan Liqiang had perfectly executed this technique. It was rare to see someone like Yan Liqiang who unleashed his attacks very appropriately. That attack that he used when he turned around was supposed to be a much more powerful drilling punch which targeted a vital spot in the middle of the opponent’s back. With Yan Liqiang’s attainment in the Roaring Tiger Consecutive Fist technique, if he had used his drilling punch normally, that youth would be heavily injured or maybe even lose his life. But instead when Yan Liqiang turned around, not only didn’t use any force in his hand but also changed his fist to a palm. All he did was transform the force used to attack the opponent by pushing him against his shoulder and it sent the opponent flying off the arena without injuring him.

Compared to certain people in previous matches, this Yan Liqiang really had a kind disposition. Despite his young age, he possessed the demeanor of a great expert.

Yan Liqiang easily won over the opponent and entered the top 50 of the county trial examination, steadily obtaining the chance to enter Pingxi Prefecture’s martial arts academy.

In the remaining hour, the remaining youths completed the competition one after another. The top fifty rankings of the Martial Arts County Trial Examination was finally released. Although Shen Teng who was ranked amongst the top three had come out last, he similarly beat his opponent without expending any effort, leading him to join the ranks of the top fifty strongest candidates without a single hitch.

It was already afternoon, and while the scorching sun blazed atop of their heads the martial arts examination still continued on. Regardless of whether they were both Shen Hongbing and Shi Changfeng seated in the audience stands or the youths participating in the examination, each and every single one of them would be watching the following match without drinking and eating.

In the so-called examination, other than testing the candidates on their martial skills, it also tested their individual willpower, stamina, as well as their spirit which were within the scope of the exam. Apart from being allowed to use the washroom, no one was allowed to eat or drink. Nobody would be exempted from this to receive a special treatment. Under the circumstances where everyone was being favorably treated equally, nobody voiced out any complaints.

Amongst those fifty candidates who could enter the martial arts academy in Pingxi Prefecture, although eight of them had won their previous matches, they were also considerably hurt which prevented them from continuing in the competition. These eight candidates were then withdrawn from the following matches. As for the remaining forty-two candidates, they would continue to draw lots in accordance to the previous rules to determine the matches and finally entering the most exciting–battle of honor.

In the battle of honor, every martial arts examination would determine the top ten candidates. These top ten candidates would then appear in the honor rankings posted on the announcement board of the martial arts academy after the conclusion of the exam. This honor roll would then be delivered to every town in the county afterwards. The top ten candidates in this register would then instantly be basked in the limelight in the wake of the county trial’s honor roll which would be widespread over the towns.

The rules of the last battle of honor were vastly different from the previous matches. It was no longer a one to one match and was instead the most intense form of chaotic warfare.

On the empty field in the heart of the training grounds, a circle with a radius of almost thousand square meters had already been drawn. The forty-two candidates who were going to enter the last battle of honor would all enter the circle. Those who were either knocked out of the circle or knocked down unable to clamber up in five seconds would be eliminated. The last remaining ten candidates in the circle would be chosen for the honor roll. Soon after, these ten candidates would still need to continue fighting each other in the ring. The remaining three who prevailed would be ranked amongst the top three of this martial arts examination. Following which, from the top three, they would determine the position in the ranking of each candidate in the country trial examination.

In the preliminary exam, in order to take precautions against people who were injured and unable to participate in the official examination, candidates who entered the top three didn’t have their ranking positions determined and were all collectively considered the top three. Yet, as the saying goes, ‘there is no first place in literacy and there is no second place in martial arts’, the rankings amongst the top three would be decided ultimately this time around in the official examination.

The academy bureaucrat of the martial arts academy used limestone to draw out forty-two standing positions within the large circle in the center of the training grounds as fast as he could. Then the forty-two candidates drew their numbers before taking their spots at the respective positions in the circle.

Due to the fact that their positionings were different, when the battle royale began later, the results would be different as well. For instance, those positioned closest to the edge of the region would be easier to knock out of the ring. Or for example, those who stood adjacent to the top three strongest candidates would similarly be the first to cross paths with the strongest opponents and be eliminated as a result. Thus, the choices in positionings would be determined by drawing lots. This helped to ensure that it was fair and wasn’t a result of being manipulated by others. As for the rest, it depended on the candidates’ luck.

Yan Liqiang drew number 31. This number’s positioning was situated in the area closest to the edge of the circle. In a brief moment of time, all the forty-two candidates had entered the large ring.

Shi Dafeng’s position was closer to the heart of the circle, while Shen Teng’s position was to the left of the opponent across him. He was slightly closer to the center. As for Qi Donglai, he was not far away from Yan Liqiang’s left side. Only four men were between the two of them, who were less than ten meters apart.

Qi Donglai was slightly anxious, occasionally sizing Yan Liqiang up and down secretly while on the other hand, Yan Liqiang’s gaze never landed on Qi Donglai from the start.

“START...”

In the wake of Shen Hongbing issuing the order in a low voice, the last tussle commenced. In a flash, changes began appearing inside the ring.

The candidates next to Yan Liqiang, Shen Teng, and Shi Dafeng quickly distanced themselves from the trio, not allowing them a single chance to take to strike out at them first on their own accord. This was also a kind of tactic. And so, the Full Arm Boxing technique’s Dharmic projection of a gibbon once again emerged from Shi Dafeng’s body. Without saying a word, he immediately pounced onto a candidate closest to him. The moment he made a move, another explosive noise erupted once more to his side.

Shen Teng also revealed his ability. What made him different from Shi Dafeng was that the technique’s Dharmic projection that emerged from Shen Teng was a red-crowned crane. Also, what Shen Teng exhibited was not a fist technique; it was instead a set of palm techniques called the Flying Crane Palm.

Shi Dafeng was similar to a berserk bulldozer and would strike out with his fist the moment he saw someone beside him. He didn’t care about the present situation and would strike them down first before saying anything. On the other hand, Shen Teng’s figure was elegant and agile, akin to a red-crowned crane fluttering its wings as it danced amongst the crowd. Even when he hit someone, an indescribable free and easy spirit emanated from his movements. Their movements were extremely fast. In a brief moment, the two had already respectively overthrown two candidates, causing a total of four candidates to be instantly ousted by the judge outside the ring.

The strength exerted by the duo at this time was two times stronger than the time they fought in the arena. Judging from the situation, it seemed that they didn’t exert their full strength during the arena matches.

After Shi Dafeng struck down two candidates, there wasn’t anyone else near him anymore. He turned around and caught sight of Yan Liqiang who was still rooted in his original place. He was watching the battle royale unfolding before him in the ring. Currently, there was no one at Yan Liqiang’s side. There were supposed to be people near him in the beginning, but they had all run away immediately after.

“Damnit, Yan Liqiang! We’re working our asses off here and you’re lazing about on the sidelines. I’m sure you’ll be embarrassed to get into the top ten honor roll like this!” shouted Shi Dafeng loudly. But he didn’t charge towards Yan Liqiang. Instead, he once again darted towards another candidate next to him. Shi Dafeng also understood that Yan Liqiang was a formidable foe. Unless he was fighting for the top three rankings in the last moment, he would never duke it out with Yan Liqiang first to avoid others from taking advantage of it.

Shen Teng also glimpsed at Yan Liqiang but he didn’t say anything. His movements however, were slowed down in an instant.

When Yan Liqiang saw that, he realized what Shen Teng was thinking. Compared to Shi Dafeng’s outspoken character, Shen Teng was definitely more of a schemer. He actually believed that Yan Liqiang wanted to save his strength so he kept a contingency for himself too so that his stamina would not be consumed too fast. It was precisely at this moment that all three felt they would ultimately cross swords with each other.

Did he really need to save his strength? He was constantly brimming with energy for training the Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing every day. In his opinion, the prior matches couldn’t even be considered as warm-up exercises.

Fine, he would start!

Yan Liqiang began to burst into laughter. In the midst of his laughter, his body acted out akin to a ferocious tiger, immediately charging towards two candidates who were caught in the midst of a duel not far from him.

The dueling candidates were plotting something so their fight wasn’t intense and was more reserved. Both of them seemed to intend on stalling time as they waited for others to fight it out and expend much of their energy so there was a chance for their rankings to rise further to the top.

Of course, it was evident that they weren’t the only candidates to harbor such intentions. In this final battle royale, every candidate’s martial skills were put to the test. At the same time, it also tested everyone’s capabilities in adapting to various changes as well as their mobility. Because on a real battleground, there was a possibility that whatever the candidates would face would be full of changes as what they were currently facing now.

Seeing that Yan Liqiang was rushing towards them, the two candidates were gobsmacked. Never in their dreams did they expect that Yan Liqiang would dare to make a move on the two of them at the same time.

Before the two candidates could react, a Dharmic projection of a ferocious South China tiger once again appeared from Yan Liqiang’s body, shocking the entire field to its core with a loud roar. Amidst the tiger roar, Yan Liqiang then shot out two fists with a move called the Tiger Pouncing Fist, assaulting the two candidates at the same time.

Since the two candidates were ranked amongst the top fifty, they would naturally be stronger than the average candidates. When Yan Liqiang struck out with his pair of fists, they used their palms to seal off Yan Liqiang’s attacks. Meanwhile, while they were exchanging glances with one another, they instantly were struck with the mutual understanding to target Yan Liqiang together.

If others were to come to attack these two candidates at the same time, the duo would definitely have the ability to seal their fist attacks. However, they never imagined that Yan Liqiang’s entire body strength would long exceed their expectations.

When Yan Liqiang attained the Horse Stance stage, he was enhanced with the strength of one horse. During the course of these few days, Yan Liqiang had been training relentlessly and diligently in the Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing every day. Yan Liqiang already lost count of how much power he had amassed on his body. In any case, the strong bow of five piculs which he had difficulty in drawing before was becoming more and more effortless to use.

The sudden increase in his body strength made the formidable power of Yan Liqiang’s Tiger Roaring Consecutive Fist technique increase by numerous folds without foundation. Even if Yan Liqiang’s Tiger Roaring Consecutive Fist was only at the realm of the fourth layer, and this formidable force of the Tiger Roaring Consecutive Fist that only at the realm of the fourth layer had long surpassed those who had trained the fist technique to the realm of the fifth layer.

This was what was meant by ‘one man with extraordinary strength can beat ten different men who know martial arts’. Different realms of the cultivation technique when exerted by different people would cause the exertion of completely different formidable forces.

In the midst of crying out in surprise, the two candidates were hit by Yan Liqiang’s Tiger Pouncing Fist technique in one strike. Akin to colliding with a stampeding rhinodrake steed, their feet simultaneously left the ground as they were thrown seven to eight meters into the distance by the immense power of Yan Liqiang’s strong fists. They heavily collapsed outside the large circle, to the extent where they felt dizzy and lightheaded from the impact. They were instantly ousted from the match.

Every other candidate that was observing the ring on the outside were dumbstruck by Yan Liqiang’s attack.

“AOOO.....” With a strike of his fist, another tiger roar erupted in the air. Another candidate next to him was again sent flying with Yan Liqiang’s fist, falling to the ground within the ring. Since he didn’t clamber up on his feet for quite a while, the judge then eliminated him from the match.

As for the fourth candidate, instead of being sent flying by Yan Liqiang’s fist, Yan Liqiang grabbed hold of his belt when he rushed to his side. With a casual swing, the candidate was directly flung out of the ring amidst his cries and gesticulating hands and feet.

In the next second, Yan Liqiang immediately rushed towards the fiercest battle in the inner ring. With each tenacious roar of the tiger, a group of candidates in the inner ring was caught in a scene of turmoil in a flash. In short period of time, Yan Liqiang had already knocked down seven to eight of them.

Shen Hongbing and Shi Changfeng were stunned in the audience area. Both of them never imagined that Yan Liqiang was this strong. Under his strikes, those candidates who had made it to the top fifty had all simply collapsed in a single blow. Shi Changfeng’s eyes glimmered when he stared at Yan Liqiang as he mumbled irresolutely to himself, “Tiger among a flock of sheep, tiger among a flock of sheep. This is truly a real tiger among a flock of sheep.”

Countless onlookers outside the field gasped in surprise when they saw Yan Liqiang beginning to show off his might. Shi Dafeng burst into laughter, his attack power once again heightened to another layer. Every time he struck out with the Full Arm Boxing technique, it would emit an explosive noise which sounded like firecrackers, overturning the candidates around him in succession. After Shen Teng got over his initial surprise, he also increased his speed.

Momentarily, only the three Dharmic projects of a tiger (Yan Liqiang), a gibbon (Shi Dafeng) and a crane (Shen Teng) could be seen roaring and prancing about in the large ring. The gibbon cried as the tiger roared, the trio had actually completely stolen the limelight from others.

The number of candidates kicked out or overthrown from the ring kept increasing. In a short span of time, the numbers standing inside the ring had already been down to almost twenty. The birth of the top ten honor roll was imminent.

Yan Liqiang set his sights on Qi Donglai. Qi Donglai was extremely cunning in his tactics and had been relentlessly engaging in battle with another opponent of similar caliber to stall for time. Just when he intended to fling Qi Donglai out of the ring, Shi Dafeng unexpectedly rushed headfirst towards Qi Donglai. Without any explanation, he immediately engaged the two, throwing both Qi Donglai and his opponent out of the ring within record time, causing Qi Donglai to be ineligible for the top ten honor roll.

Apart from Yan Liqiang and the duo, the other strong candidates inside the ring had also each won against more than one opponent. Those with superior strength were gradually revealing themselves.

At this time, Yan Liqiang gradually stopped fighting. Shi Dafeng and Shen Teng also gradually did the same because there was no point for them to continue fighting any longer as there weren’t many people left in the ring. Should they continue to launch a blanket assault now to drive the other candidates who were only slightly inferior to them out of the ring and made the strong candidates lose their eligibility to enter the top ten honor roll, then it would be counted as offending others.

Although Yan Liqiang seemed unrestrained earlier on, in actual fact, every move he made was extremely calculated. His targets were all candidates with middle or lower strength among the fifty. The chances of those candidates being ranked among the honor roll were already bleak to begin with so it was normal for them to be thrown out of the ring by him.

“Hahaha, what a kick! So satisfying!” laughed Shi Dafeng heartily, moving towards Yan Liqiang. “Both of us should have a friendly competition later on. I’m excited to see whether your Tiger Roaring Consecutive Fist or my Full Arm Boxing is stronger!”

“There is no relative superiority in fist techniques. Whoever moves first, wins!” Yan Liqiang spoke in a bullshit manner. The phrase was simple yet had a profound meaning, causing Shi Dafeng to be taken aback after hearing it.

“Well said!” Shen Teng also had come over, looking at Yan Liqiang with amazement. He couldn’t prevent himself from exclaiming in admiration, “The Tiger Roaring Consecutive Fist is originally the most basic fist technique there is, but today when in your hands, you showed me an extraordinary might. Being graced the chance to fight with you today is certainly a pleasure in life!”

Smiling, Yan Liqiang said modestly, “Then I will request that the both of you show some mercy later on!”

“That won’t do! That won’t do...” Shi Dafeng’s head shook like a rattle-drum. “Although you’re younger than Shen Teng and me, the full might of your fist art is a force to be reckoned with. When we compete later, I will definitely exert my full strength. If I show any mercy, in the blink of an eye, you’ll probably beat me to the extent where I’ll piss my pants in terror! That would be too humiliating!”

“I am afraid to be lenient with you as well!”

The three of them exchanged a glance with each other before bursting into laughter.

It was also in the midst of the trio’s laughter that the last seven candidates were distinguished, winning the fights against their own respective opponents. Just like that, the list of candidates entering the top ten honor roll was decided.

“Candidates within each ring are to recuperate for 30 minutes. After 15 minutes, the fight for the top three will take place!” Outside the ring, a judge from the martial arts academy announced, then immediately lit up half an incense in the nearby censer.

Within the large ring, a candidate of the top ten honor roll with some bruises on his face was gasping hard, trying to catch his breath. He cast a glance at the calm and composed trio near him and abruptly raised his hand. “Report! I’m withdrawing myself from the fight for the top three!”

“You have thought it through?” A judge from the outer ring asked again.

“Yes!”

“Walking out of the ring on your own will be considered as forfeiting the match for the top three. After forfeiting the match, your ranking in the top ten honor roll will still remain!”

The candidate nodded his head and directly walked out of the ring. A smile eventually broke out on his face as he heaved a heavy sigh of relief.

This year, Yan Liqiang, Shi Dafeng, and Shen Teng were too strong. When pit against the strength of other contestants, there were completely of another caliber. In previous years, there would still be candidates who were willing to challenge the top three of the preliminary exams. However, there didn’t seem to be any possibility this year, especially when an unexpected winner like Yan Liqiang was around. So long as they were not blind, they could easily tell that rather than suffering a crushing defeat or being injured at the hands of the trio, during the fight for the top three before the eyes of many, it would be better for them to forfeit with dignity. Since they were already in the top ten and wasn’t utterly defeated, it would sound far more pleasant if word got out.

During the martial arts examination held every year, there were a lot of candidates who would forfeit during this segment. This wasn’t entirely something that was embarrassing to begin with.

The other candidates were no fools either, on seeing that someone took the initiative and withdrew, each and every single one of the remaining candidates made their choice as well, after mulling over and comparing the disparity between their own strengths and the trio.

“I’m also voluntarily forfeiting the match...”

“I’ll forfeit!”

“I’m withdrawing from the fight for top three!”

In the blink of an eye, apart from Yan Liqiang’s trio, all the other candidates who made it to the top ten honor roll walked out of the ring on their own accord. The match this time to determine the top three ranking was destined to be between these three.

“Do any of you still need to rest for the entire fifteen minutes before beginning the match?” The judge outside the ring asked.

“Hahaha! What rest? I don’t need it! I can fight again anytime!” Shi Dafeng was the first to answer. He then looked towards Yan Liqiang and Shen Teng. “What about you two?”

Shen Teng drew in a deep breath. “Then let’s start now!”

Yan Liqiang smiled. “I have no problems with that!”

The three of them went to the outer ring, and once again drew lots to decide the battle sequence.

There were only three rounds in total for the top three rankings. Everyone participating would respectively fight two rounds. Those with exceptional achievements would emerge as the victor. If their scores were the same, for instance, each of them won one match and lost in the other or they were at a draw for all three rounds, then the rankings would instead be determined by Shen Hongbing and Shi Changfeng based on the trio’s overall performance.

In the blink of an eye, the results of the draw were released. The first round would pit Yan Liqiang against Shi Dafeng while Yan Liqiang would be against Shen Teng in the second round. In the third round, Shi Dafeng would versus Shen Teng.

The three of them once again arrived at Arena A. The rules were exactly the same to the matches prior.

Under the countless eyes of the public, Yan Liqiang and Shi Dafeng went into Arena A at the same time.

Yan Liqiang stood next to the red line on the left side of the arena whilst Shi Dafeng stood next to the red line on the right side of the arena. The two of them cupped their fists in salute to each other.

“START!” the nearby judge gave the order.

The moment the judge finished giving the order, Yan Liqiang and Shi Dafeng strode forth and towards each other at the same time, each throwing a fist at the other.

Yan Liqiang’s tiger Dharmic projection, as well as Shi Dafeng’s gibbon Dharmic projection, appeared simultaneously.

The tiger roar and gibbon cry simultaneously erupted as their fists collided with each other.

Tiger Roaring Consecutive Fist and Full Arm Boxing were strong and ferocious techniques. This simple confrontation instantly distinguished the relative superiority of the formidable might of the two fist arts.

Yan Liqiang’s body didn’t move a single jot whereas Shi Dafeng was forced back three steps from Yan Liqiang’s punch. His expression paled slightly but without waiting for Shi Dafeng to react, Yan Liqiang’s fist was already swinging towards him. He basically didn’t grant him the slightest chance to react to the situation.

In that moment, all Shi Dafeng could see were only Yan Liqiang’s fists everywhere. One followed by another, Yan Liqiang’s fists were akin to rapidly speeding wheels, more like a continuous and uninterrupted stream. Every punch was full of immense power. He didn’t give any time for Shi Dafeng to fight back and had sealed off Shi Dafeng’s attacks all at once.

When faced with the ceaseless assaults, Shi Dafeng did one thing based on his instincts.

DANG! DANG! DANG! DANG! DANG! DANG! DANG! DANG!...

When he blocked the eighth blow, all of a sudden, Shi Dafeng felt his legs were standing on nothing, losing balance in an instant as his body collapsed backward. Without waiting for him to catch onto something, Yan Liqiang struck out with another blow. Shi Dafeng blocked it, but by then his body had already left the stage and fell from the arena.

As he fell, Shi Dafeng did a somersault in midair and ended with both of his feet touching the ground. Lifting his head, he caught sight of Yan Liqiang smiling at him from the arena.

After he took another look at his feet and stared at Yan Liqiang in the arena, did Shi Dafeng only realize what had happened. He scratched his head and stared at Yan Liqiang dejectedly. “Consecutive attacks?”

Yan Liqiang smiled and cupped his hands at Shi Dafeng. “Thank you for the match!.”

“Consecutive attacks...”

“He actually used the consecutive attacks of the Tiger Roaring Consecutive Fist...”

“Sure enough, this Yan Liqiang didn’t exert his full strength earlier!”

Every candidate who was watching the scene unfold abruptly broke into an uproar. What happened just now was too quick and the majority didn’t manage to clearly witness the events that had transpired. They only felt that the stage had been instantly covered in shadows of fists flying one after another and amidst the explosions and the reverberating tiger roars; none of them expected that the first round of the tournament ended just like that.

The most powerful part of the Tiger Roaring Consecutive Fist wasn’t the tiger roaring but the consecutive attacks. If the practitioner exhibiting the fist arts had mastered it, the moment he struck out with the consecutive attacks, his iron fists would roll out consecutively like a boulder. It had the ability to completely overwhelm the opponent, causing them to passively defend against the attacks or keep sustaining heavy injuries. Those with an inferior strength would instantly be crushed.

Seeing that Yan Liqiang used the consecutive attacks of Tiger Roaring Consecutive Fists to win Shi Dafeng, Shen Teng’s expression also became gravely solemn.

In the arena, the judge announced that Yan Liqiang had claimed the first round victory. Following which, he proceeded to ask Yan Liqiang a question. “According to regulations, you may rest for 15 minutes before moving on to the next match. Do you need to rest?”

“No need. I just got into the flow. Bring it on!”

“Alright!”

Without stopping to rest, Yan Liqiang proceeded to face Shen Teng.

This time around, Shen Teng learned his lesson. After the judge announced that the battle had commenced, instead of charging towards Yan Liqiang immediately, he distanced himself.

And just like before, Yan Liqiang acted like a fierce tiger pouncing on its prey. He charged towards Shen Teng, taking the initiative to go on the offense.

The arena wasn’t big enough to begin with so there was limited space to maneuver. On top of that, apart from the immense power of Yan Liqiang’s fist arts, his reaction speed was not inferior to Shen Teng’s. Although Shen Teng made a supreme effort to avoid being entangled in Yan Liqiang’s Tiger Roaring Consecutive Fist attacks, the longest he could last was barely a minute. After the two of them exchanged blows a few times, the surge of heavy fist assaults instantly engulfed Shen Teng.

Right after Yan Liqiang launched seven consecutive strikes, although the graceful Shen Teng appeared confident and at ease, he still followed in Shi Dafeng’s footsteps and was knocked out of the arena by Yan Liqiang...

The sun was setting soon, yet the outside of the martial arts academy of Qinghe County was still crowded. Countless people were still waiting outside of the academy.

Among these people who were waiting, were the parents, siblings, grandfathers, and uncles of the martial arts examination candidates as well as their servants, stewards, and friends of the same age.

To the citizens of Qinghe County, the annual martial art examination was akin to a festival; a major event in the county. On normal days, as long as any family who had a son of appropriate age, the most commonly asked questions were along the lines of ‘is your child prepared to participate in the martial arts examination this year?’, ‘how’s his performance lately?’ or ‘has he been accepted by the martial arts academy of Pingxi Prefecture?’

This kind of situation was exactly like the college entrance exam in Yan Liqiang’s past life. Every college entrance exam affected the heart of every family.

Among the waiting, restless men that were gathered outside the martial arts academy, there were also a few women. They stood out like red flowers among green bushes. They were matchmakers within the county who were older in age but were still dressed in bright colors. These matchmakers were very sharp-eyed and were really glib. They were gathered here today to exchange news and information in their hands and also to get the results of the exam held in the martial arts academy while making preparations to seek out talented youths.

It was notable that these matchmakers were most busy after the martial arts examination every year because that was when business was at its best.

Apart from these matchmakers, there were also a few messengers dressed in red with their horses that had a gong hanging from the saddles. They stood a distance away from the crowds while they watched from the sidelines. These messengers usually accepted jobs in disseminating information or sending letters to others and were assembled here today for the same reason, to earn some quick money. If they were fast enough on their feet and were lucky enough, they might just be able to snatch the opportunity to disseminate the good news about the top three. The reward they would get from sharing the news might just be equivalent to their one week’s worth of hard work. If they happened to meet a large clan who was generous with their reward, it could even be as much as a month’s worth of their income.

Unknowingly, the crowd that was gathered around the main entrance of the martial arts academy was suddenly in an uproar.

“It’s here, it’s here! The result of this year’s martial arts examination is out...!”

Someone yelled.

Upon hearing this yell, countless people poured forth both consciously or subconsciously towards the entrance of the martial arts academy like tidal waves.

A group of academy bureaucrats from the martial arts academy walked out from the main entrance and formed a circle with experience, blocking the crowds that were pouring forth towards them. They protected the two people who had tools in their hands and were prepared to post up the honor roll in the middle of the circle. While making their way towards the announcement wall at the side, they were also shouting. “Make way everyone, make way! Don’t push, don’t push! The more you push, the slower it will be! Once we post up the honor roll, everyone will be able to see the result of this year’s martial arts examination!”

“Everyone, don’t push, don’t push...”

The people foremost of the crowd also started shouting and eventually, they got the surging crowd that was rushing towards the front to calm down.

The few academy bureaucrats of the martial arts academy finally managed to make it to the front of the announcement wall after squeezing through the crowds until they were hot and sweaty. The few academy bureaucrats and the crowds that were gathered in front spontaneously protected their grounds and stopped others from pushing while the remaining two academy bureaucrats climbed the ladders that had already been previously set up there with lightning speed. They unrolled an enormous red-colored announcement and swiftly pasted it on the wall, somewhere about two meters high from the ground.

As soon as they were done pasting the announcement, the people in the surrounding could no longer hold back and immediately flocked over before they could even remove the ladders. The group of academy bureaucrats hurriedly retreated from the space in front of the announcement to make room for the crowds that had been waiting.

Everyone’s gaze instantly ended up at the top of that honor roll.

“The Great Han Empire, the 12th year of the Yuanping reign, Zhou district, Pingxi Prefecture, Qinghe County, Martial Arts County Trial Examination’s Honor Roll”

Top Three in Martial Arts Examination, First Place: Liuhe Town, Yan Liqiang

Top Three in Martial Arts Examination, Second Place: Qinghe County Town, Shen Teng

Top Three In Martial Arts Examination, Third Place: Langu Town, Shi Dafeng

...

On the ranking list, the first three names were biggest and most conspicuous. After Shi Dafeng were the names of the other seven people who had made it into the top ten. Their names were slightly smaller than Yan Liqiang’s name and the other two. At the same time, they were not ranked but instead, their names were sorted according to the number of strokes in the characters of their names.

After the first ten names, the list was followed by the other forty exam candidate’s name and their place of origin.

Upon seeing this name list, some were happy, some were disappointed, some were so excited that they cheered, some sighed and shook their heads. But spontaneously, a question emerged in everyone’s heart –‘Yan Liqiang, who is Yan Liqiang? Since when did Liuhe Town have such an impressive youth?’

Discussions broke out among the surrounding crowds, especially the few matchmakers. As soon as they saw the top three names on the list, they all started asking the people around them for information on Yan Liqiang, Shen Teng and Shi Dafeng.

“Huh? I think I’ve heard about this Yan Liqiang before...” A middle-aged man in the crowd seemed to have suddenly recalled something when he saw Yan Liqiang’s name. Upon hearing his words, many people from the surrounding instantly flocked over and most pricked up their ears. “Did everyone happen to hear about that method of saving the drowning victims that came from Huanglong County?”

“Are you talking about that method of performing moxibustion on the belly button? Of course! A few days ago, four children drowned in my village. We used that method in the end and managed to save two seemingly hopeless children that had been drowned for many hours!” Realization dawned on that someone as he recalled what had happened.

“That’s right. That’s the method I am talking about. A few days ago when I went to Huanglong County to purchase goods, I heard someone talking about it at a restaurant in Huanglong County. That person was saying that a youth by the name of Yan Liqiang seemed to have known this wondrous method of performing moxibustion on the belly button method to save drowned victims because some deity had imparted the knowledge to him in his dreams. I wonder if this Yan Liqiang is the very same one here...”

“Oh? There’s such a tale...?”

“The surname Yan is a minority and there aren’t many people with the surname Yan in our Qinghe County too. It’ll really be too much of a coincidence if there’s someone else with the exact same name and surname...”

“True, true, true. It’s probably the same person...”

Another person chimed in, “I vaguely recall the son of Blacksmith Yan from the Liuhe Town seems to be called Yan Liqiang...”

The surrounding crowd was suddenly in an uproar.

The few messengers quickly and invariably got on their horses after getting a clear look at the names of the top three on the list. Then with their fastest speed, they hurriedly dashed in the direction of Liuhe Town, Langu Town, and towards the other side of the county town.

The messenger who was fastest on his horse took a shortcut through a small road halfway and made it first to Liuhe Town. As soon as he arrived on the streets of Liuhe Town, he picked up the gong that was hung on the horse. While still riding on his moving horse, he hit on the gong to attract the attention of the people around him. With his loudest and most resonant voice, he started to shout along the way. “Good news, good news! Young Master Yan, Yan Liqiang of Liuhe Town has made it to the honor roll of Martial Arts County Trial Examination as one of the top three today...”

“Good news, good news! Young Master Yan, Yan Liqiang of Liuhe Town has made it to the honor roll of Martial Arts County Trial Examination as one of the top three today...”

The good news swept across the streets like the wind. When the merchants along the streets and pedestrians walking on the street heard this news, many of them could hardly believe their own ears for a split second.

Naturally, everyone knew of Blacksmith Yan’s son, but none of them expected his son to actually be ranked among the top three in the martial arts examination today. It had been too long since any youth in the entire Liuhe Town made it to top three ranking in the martial arts examination.

“Big brother, do you know which way to Young Master Yan Liqiang’s residence? I intend to bring the good news to his family. There’s finally a top three candidate from Liuhe Town...” When that messenger who carried the good news saw a butcher standing on the streets in a daze, he stopped his horse in front of the meat stall and happily asked that butcher.

Butcher Liu, who was in a daze, suddenly jolted back to reality before he quickly plastered a smile on his face and pointed towards the bank of Willow River. “Y-Young Master Yan’s residence is by the river bank. There’s a blacksmith workshop at his residence, just look for the one with the tallest chimney...” Butcher Liu swallowed hard when he finished speaking. He then lifted his head up and cautiously asked, “Oh right... Well... you were saying that Yan Liqiang is on the honor roll. Are you sure you didn’t see it wrongly...?”

“Haha, Young Master Yan’s name and this place, Liuhe Town were written in the first place on the honor roll that had been posted outside of the martial arts academy. Everyone who saw it was talking about it. How could I possibly make a mistake? If I can even be mistaken about something like this, I should just gouge my own eyes out and quit being a messenger...” That messenger said, but without any delay, he once again squeezed the horse on its flanks and brought it to a gallop towards Yan Liqiang’s house.

“Good news, good news! Young Master Yan, Yan Liqiang of Liuhe Town has made it to the honor roll of Martial Arts County Trial Examination as one of the top three today...!” The messenger hit the gong as he loudly announced and vanished before Butcher Liu’s eyes in just a blink of the eye. Only the sounds of his gong and shouts could be still be faintly heard.

Although the sun was about to set and the temperature was gradually lowering, Butcher Liu looked as if he had lost his soul while listening to the sound of the good news that was growing distant, his face was pale and his eyes were lifeless. In just the blink of an eye, his gleaming and oily forehead was covered with a sheen of sweat. When he recalled how he had treated the father and son of the Yan Clan in the past, Butcher Liu’s hands trembled.

“Father... who was that shouting and hitting the gong outside just now...?” Butcher Liu’s son came out from the room behind the meat stall. He was holding a cooked pork leg in his hand and was chomping on it until his face was all oily.

When he saw his son at this moment, Butcher Liu was suddenly overcome with anger. He abruptly slapped his son and yelled at him. “You’re still eating? All you know how to do is eat. I’ve been telling you to practice martial arts since you were young but you’d whine for days as soon as you tried doing the Horse Stance. You can’t even hold it for five minutes. How could I have a son like you...”

Butcher Liu’s son was instantly stupefied from being slapped by his father. He only reacted after a few good seconds had passed and then started crying loudly.

...

In the Yan Residence, Zhou Hongda and his wife had already finished preparing a meal along with a pot of chicken soup and were waiting for Yan Liqiang’s return.

Yan Dechang and Steward Lu were in the courtyard, chatting with each other while waiting.

But instead of Yan Liqiang, it was a messenger with good news who greeted them.

“Clang... clang... clang... Good news, good news! Young Master Yan, Yan Liqiang of Liuhe Town has made it to the honor roll of Martial Arts County Trial Examination as one of the top three today...!”

As soon as both of them heard the voice, they looked at each other, both thinking that their ears were tricking them. However, this voice had drawn nearer to them, growing clearer all of a sudden.

“Clang... clang... clang... Good news, good news! Young Master Yan, Yan Liqiang of Liuhe Town has made it to the honor roll of Martial Arts County Trial Examination as one of the top three today...!”

Yan Dechang was still finding it a little hard to believe, but Steward Lu had already stood up with a very excited look on his face.

“Clang... clang... clang... Good news, good news! Young Master Yan, Yan Liqiang of Liuhe Town has made it to the honor roll of Martial Arts County Trial Examination as one of the top three today...!”

The voice had already reached outside of their residence. Soon after, a series of knocks on their main door was heard. Zhou Tiezhu had already hurried over to open the door without waiting for Steward Lu’s order.

A messenger who was holding a gong with a big smile on his face was already standing on the other side of the door. The neighbors around the Yan Residence had also gathered around to see what was going on.

“I am humbly here to announce good news on behalf of Young Master Yan. Young Master Yan is on the honor roll in today’s Martial Arts County Trial Examination as one of the top three. He will surely achieve meteoric success in the future with his brilliant future prospects!”

Seeing Yan Dechang excitedly reward the messenger who arrived with the good news with two taels of silver, Steward Lu immediately called over a guard from the Lu Clan and sent him off on a rhinodrake steed to Huanglong County to inform the Lu Clan...

“All of you that are on the honor roll, your reputation shall be known in town and there will be a lot of social events at home. Relatives and friends will definitely visit. There is still more than two months until the reporting day at the martial arts academy of Pingxi Prefecture from now. In these two months, please don’t neglect your cultivation while you attend to all your social events. It’s vital for you to know that even if you have been admitted into the martial arts academy of Pingxi Prefecture, you are only halfway through the door of cultivation. You will only be recognized as a Martial Warrior after you have attained the Horse Stance stage, Stretching Tendon and Extending Bone stage, as well as Establishing Dantian stage. After then will you be considered as officially stepping through the main door of martial arts cultivation.”

Fifty exam candidates, including Yan Liqiang, Shi Dafeng, and Shen Teng were standing solemnly in the lofty main hall of the academy arts academy while they listened to Shi Changfeng’s speech. Each and everyone’s mind was surging with emotions and many of them were enormously proud of their success.

“Being a Martial Warrior is only standing at the starting point of martial arts cultivation. So everyone, avoid feeling complacent and come to a standstill thus ultimately destroying your own future prospects. Our Gan Province had always been the lower province [1] around the Western Frontier of the Great Han Empire. For the past few centuries, we have also been in the chaos of war. We can hardly compare to the other prefectures regardless of population, economy or martial arts lineage. Take the Martial Arts County Trial Examination of Qinghe County this time as an example. All of you here are already the most outstanding individuals among the younger generation, yet there is still a large gap between you and the youths of other provinces in terms of cultivation. Among all of you, the people who have attained the Horse Stance stage are still less than a tenth. I went to Lan Province the year before to personally oversee the Martial Arts County Trial Examination in Moxie County. In that county that year, about 120 exam candidates were recruited into the martial arts academy of the Moxie County. Among these 120 exam candidates, more than forty had attained the Horse Stance stage; that was nearly a third of the exam candidates. Can you all imagine how spectacular that was? That Lan Province is nothing but a middle province [2]. Among the other upper provinces [3], wealthy and powerful clans and formidable sects, youths that have advanced as Martial Warriors at the mere age of twenty can be found everywhere. They are simply innumerable...”

Yan Liqiang was secretly astonished in his heart when he heard Shi Changfeng’s words. If it wasn’t for Shi Changfeng, he wouldn’t know that there was actually such a great disparity between the Qinghe County that he was living in and the other provinces and prefectures. It seemed like the disparity in resources existed everywhere. Gan Province was probably an area where everyone was poor and it was incomparable with the other areas of the Great Han Empire.

After listening to Shi Changefeng’s words, the smug look on the face of each and every single youth that had been complacent with their own achievement earlier vanished as their facial expressions started to turn grave.

Shi Changfeng’s glance swept over every youth with satisfaction before he continued on with giving everyone a wake-up call. “And being a Martial Warrior only turns you into a gentry. If your objective stops here, then your vision is too narrow and your ambition in life is too low. That’s because even gentry is divided into many ranks, and there are also aristocrats above gentry. The position, wealth and rank of aristocrats vary too. Therefore, to enjoy greater honor and stand at a higher position, there’s no other way apart from continuing with your cultivation to obtain greater strength. There are more realms waiting for you all after you’ve become a Martial Warrior. Beyond Martial Warrior is the Supreme Martial Warrior. After the Supreme Martial Warrior, there’s Martial Master, then followed by Martial Grandmaster. There are even higher realms beyond the Martial Grandmaster. The path of cultivation is just beneath your feet. If you are fortunate enough to advance as a Martial King in the future, you can instantly be recognized as an Elder among the Empire’s Senate. The glory that you will be basking in by then is simply incomparable to what you have now. Although you are being recruited by the martial arts academy of the county, you’re not even the most basic Martial Warrior yet. So you have to continue working hard!”

Everyone, including Yan Liqiang, nodded after hearing this.

“The Silver Continent is a region of war which consists of a great number of countries where the weak are the prey to the strong. All of you are currently enjoying the peace and prosperity of Pingxi Prefecture. There are no weapons and soldiers in sight. But do you know that a few centuries ago, Pingxi Prefecture and Gan Province were still vulnerable to attack and were hardly an abode of peace? Even now at this very moment, wars and bloodshed still happen every day in territories outside of our Great Han Empire. Apart from us of Chinese ancestry, countless people are still living in a precarious state. They are constantly in fear and on edge, as their country may collapse at any moment. They can starve and women and children may be reduced to being slaves and toys to others in just a blink of the eye.”

“Just last year, the Silla Kingdom, which is just north of the Great Han Empire, was destroyed by the Chaman Empire. There was a massacre that lasted seven days in the captured city of the Silla Kingdom. Blood ran like a river; seventy million people in the Silla Kingdom were reduced to only a few million in just two years, and all of the survivors were turned into slaves. The entire race was nearly exterminated. The skull of Silla’s king was turned into a wine cup by the commander of the Chaman people, Geli. The king’s imperial concubines and children became slaves and toys to the others. All the ministers and aristocrats of the Silla Kingdom were leashed and chained to a horse like dogs, and were all dragged across the ground until they died.”

“After the people of Chaman destroyed the Silla Kingdom, Commander Geli of the Chaman people basked in the glory of his achievement. Last year, he had ordered a million cavalries to invade the border of our Great Han Empire’s Jin Province. In the end, we didn’t fight with them because a million troops from the Storm Army of our Great Han Empire were already fully prepared at the border of Jin Province. After the million cavalries of the Chaman people, the Thousand Pioneer Army invaded the Jin Province and destroyed a few villages at our border, killing thousands of villagers, the Thousand Pioneer Army was later wiped out by the cavalries of the Storm Army by the side of Xima Lake. Not even one soldier managed to escape. All of them were decapitated and their bodies were piled up into a mountain at Xima Lake as a display to the armies of Chaman people later. This was the reason why the great army of Chaman people didn’t invade the Jin Province in the end! The fact that we are still able to live somewhat peacefully right now is all thanks to the countless warriors at the border through their sabers, spears, and blood. So you all shouldn’t take everything for granted.”

The silence in the main hall of the martial arts academy was deafening. Shi Changfeng swept his glance across everyone. The voice of his tone suddenly grew grave as he spoke earnestly. “The Chaman may have retreated this time, but what about next time? What if next time, they didn’t come in with just a million but a few millions of armies? Do you think they will invade Jin Province? Apart from the Chaman Empire, there’s still the Xiongnu Empire to the north, the Shatu Alliance, the Dark Ram Tribe to the west and the New Crescent Dynasty from the south. These tribes and nations are all extremely formidable. Each and every one of them are preying on us Chinese like tigers and drooling over our lands and wealth. Over the past few centuries, wars of varying scales and intensity between the Chinese and the other tribes have never ceased. Just think about it, everyone. If a war is to break out again one day, do you think you can march into the battlefield with your current attainment in martial arts and protect your nation, your parents and friends from becoming the enslaved by the other tribes!?”

Seeing how everyone was deep in their thoughts, Shi Changfeng’s lecture finally came to an end. His final gaze rested on Yan Liqiang and the few who were standing at the forefront. The tone of his voice lightened, “Alright. When all of you go home, try to digest what I have just said today and you will know what to do in the future. As the saying goes, ‘Think of danger in times of peace, as thinking leads to preparation and preparation averts calamities.’ This world has never truly been peaceful. When you are at ease, the person who has the intention to kill you may be sharpening his knife. In two months time, that is on the twenty-eighth day of the eighth lunar month, everyone can report in at the martial arts academy of Pingxi Prefecture. I hope by the time I see you all again two months later, you will have improved compared to now!”

...

After both Shen Hongbing and Shi Changfeng each gave their lectures to the masses, the fifty youths who were admitted into Pingxi Prefecture’s martial arts academy stamped their fingerprints on the admission register. That would serve as a proof of identity once they report to the academy two months later. After completing all the subsequent formalities, everyone finally left the martial arts academy with the youths who had come to participate in the Martial Arts County Trial Examination together. They each respectively returned to their own homes.

As the main doors to the martial arts academy flung open, the youths flowed out at the same time. They either went home or met up with their friends and family who were waiting outside. Some of them were in high spirits while the others were silent and disappointed. The sorrow and the happiness they felt among them could only be experienced by themselves.

It was different from when he had arrived in the morning. During that time, Yan Liqiang had come alone, a stranger amongst the others. Apart from a couple of the youths in Liuhe Town, almost everyone didn’t know who he was. Yet now, even when he walked amongst the crowd, Yan Liqiang could feel many gazes from the youths who had participated in the examination from all around as their gazes were silently fixated on him. This was the treatment he would receive for taking first place in the examination.

After bustling about for a day without drinking even one drop of water, everyone was already exhausted and starving by now. Yan Liqiang felt that his own tummy had been growling in protest for a long time. He didn’t feel it at all when he was in the martial arts academy but now that he was done, he felt it was time for him to have a good meal.

Although his tummy was still growling in protest, Shi Changfeng’s words were still constantly replaying in Yan Liqiang’s mind. Based on Yan Liqiang’s experience and judgement from living two lives, he couldn’t help but feel that Shi Changfeng’s words had some kind of profound meaning to them. The words he had said were also the best form of motivation and encouragement to everyone that was present. To Yan Liqiang at least, Shi Changfeng’s words once again made him felt anxious and precarious. The exhilaration and the excitement he felt for seizing first place in the martial arts examination was then washed away.

Becoming a Martial Warrior only served as a starting point in this world, not to mention the fact that he had yet to become a Martial Warrior. ‘So, fight harder, youth...’

...

Footsteps sounded from behind him but Yan Liqiang did not turn around. He thought it should be Shi Dafeng from the sound of the footsteps alone.

Ever since he trained in Marrow Cleansing, Yan Liqiang discovered that his perception was becoming more and more acute.

As expected, a hand patted on shoulder from behind and out came Shi Dafeng. He walked along Yan Liqiang’s side. “Are you planning to head home now?”

“Yes, of course!”

“Do you have any plans for the next two months?”

“Plans? What do you mean?” Yan Liqiang gave Shi Dafeng a suspicious look.

“What I meant was, if you don’t have anything to do for the next two months, why don’t we travel outside together for a while to broaden our knowledge and experience? We could try our luck at Mount Azure Dragon within the borders of Lan Province and come back at the end of the eighth lunar month. Then we can head to Pingxi Prefecture’s martial arts academy to report ourselves since it’s boring to stay at home for two months anyway!” Shi Dafeng’s eyes were gleaming with eagerness. “I went to ask Shen Teng just now but he said his eldest uncle, who is the headmaster, told him to enter secluded training and train hard for two months. He’s not allowed to go out. Such a shame. I originally wanted all three of us to go so it would be more fun that way. I heard that there are a lot of secret dwellings where the senior experts enter secluded training atop Mount Azure Dragon. There are also experts who cultivate in secret up there all year round. If we were to meet one or two of the experts in the mountain, we can maybe revere the expert’s demeanor. If we get extremely lucky enough to find a dwelling left behind by the senior experts and stumble upon a couple of secret manuals above the tenth layer in the process, won’t we be super rich...”

Shi Dafeng was a man with a cheerful and outspoken personality. He was very carefree and didn’t mind in the slightest when he had lost to him and Shen Teng. He was over it in the blink of an eye. A man like this was a person who was worthy to be friends with in Yan Liqiang’s eyes.

Yan Liqiang smiled, “You go ahead. I still have things to attend to back home in these two months so I can’t leave!”

“What is it that requires you to stay at home? Don’t tell me that your family is arranging a blind date for you?” Shi Dafeng stared at Yan Liqiang dubiously.

“It’s not a blind date. It’s just that there won’t be anyone to look after my father once I go to Pingxi Prefecture two months later. I am worried about him. So, I’m going to make some arrangements during these two months to lessen my worries afterward!”

“You don’t have any brothers and sisters at home?”

“Nope. I’m the only child!”

“Then nevermind!” sighed Shi Dafeng. “I’ll go alone then...”

“Yeah. Then I’ll see you again at Pingxi Prefecture Martial Arts Academy!” As he said that, Yan Liqiang had already departed from the main gates of the Qinghe County Martial Arts Academy. He caught sight of the Lu Clan’s guard who was waiting at an area not far from the entrance, leading two rhinodrake steeds.

“Yan Liqiang has come out...”

“That fourteen to fifteen year old youth wearing blue clothes is ranked the first amongst the top three in this martial arts examination! Yan Liqiang from Liuhe Town!”

“I never expected him to be this young...”

“I’m sure he’s not betrothed yet...”

Before Yan Liqiang reached the guard from Lu Clan, gasps of amazement erupted in an instant. Taking a glimpse, he saw countless people still waiting outside the entrance, each and every single one of them were eyeing him with curiosity. The moment he came out, many of them looked like they were about to surround him. Amongst the crowd, a couple of them even seemed to be matchmakers. Such spectacle was no different than the scene in his previous life when the common folk would stand in a circle to gaze at the bright stars in the street.

Fortunately, the Lu Clan’s guard managed to lead the rhinodrake steed to him in the nick of the time. Yan Liqiang didn’t say anything further and immediately took over the reins. He nimbly mounted the steed before cupping his fists at his surroundings. Without saying anything more, he quickly left the martial arts academy together with the Lu Clan’s guard, making their return to Liuhe Town.

Although the guard from the Lu Clan did not utter anything throughout the journey home, Yan Liqiang could still tell from the guard’s eyes that his respect for Yan Liqiang had gone up another notch.

Upon returning to Liuhe Town, once he arrived on his rhinodrake steed, Yan Liqiang realized that the surrounding pathway area was abruptly bustling with liveliness. Numerous households on both sides of the path had come out of their homes to look at him as they cheered with noise and excitement. Wherever he looked, there were smiles plastered on their faces and what he heard from around him were gasps of amazement. A group of children were chasing after his rhinodrake steed while shouting, “The first place winner in the top three has returned! The first place winner in the top three has returned...”

Before he could even reach his home, Yan Liqiang had already caught sight of his own father. Yan Dechang and Zhou Tiezhu emerged from their courtyard and waited for him on the road outside.

Yan Liqiang dismounted the steed as fast as he could, leading it toward Yan Dechang. He smiled, “Father, I have returned...”

Yan Dechang’s eyes instantly reddened in a flash, looking a bit moist. He deeply sucked in a breath of air and wiped the corner of his eyes with his sleeves. A smile emerged on his countenance as he said, “It’s good you’re back. It’s good to see you home. Go and pray to your mother’s tablet. Then we’ll eat together. We’ve been waiting for you to come home... ”

He naturally savored every bite of the meal he had at home. Even Yan Dechang, who never seemed to take in a drop of wine, was also slightly drunk from drinking too much that night.

Once they finished their meal, the night had completely closed in. Yan Liqiang personally supported the drunk Yan Dechang back to his room to rest. After he tucked Yan Dechang in bed, he went to fetch warm water and personally helped wash Yan Dechang’s hands, face, and feet.

Lying atop the bed, Yan Dechang’s face was flushed red; his eyes were shut and he appeared to be slightly intoxicated. His mouth was still raving on nonsensically about something.

“Xuelian... did you see? Our son...ranked first amongst the top three... I promised you before...to nurture Liqiang...waiting for the day for him to have the ability...to...avenge you...Then I...can finally put my mind at ease and join you.... Wait for me...”

As he wiped Yan Dechang’s feet, when he heard the last of his words, Yan Liqiang abruptly froze mid-motion as though he was shocked by electricity.

Within moments, Yan Dechang finally dazedly drifted off to sleep, losing the capability to say anything anymore. After being stunned for a while, Yan Liqiang slowly shifted his gaze from Yan Dechang’s face. Once he was done wiping Yan Dechang’s feet, he carried the basin and left the room...

Yan Liqiang tossed and turned on the bed in his room for the whole night, finding it difficult to fall asleep. After having a little too much to drink, Yan Dechang’s words that sounded like he was sleep talking lingered around his ears.

Revenge... Revenge... Revenge...

Ever Yan Liqiang could remember, he didn’t have any memories of his mother in his mind. Yan Dechang told him that his mother had passed away from her illness when he was only half a year old. Yan Liqiang was brought up by the wet nurse that Yan Dechang had hired since then. For these past ten years, Yan Liqiang had never doubted the story Yan Dechang told him even once. However, his drunken words tonight were earth-shattering to Yan Liqiang. Could it be that his mother had passed away due to some other reasons? Or was she murdered by someone?

If that wasn’t the case, Yan Dechang wouldn’t have mentioned anything about revenge.

Yan Dechang must have known the identity of the culprit but was too powerless to exact a revenge. Therefore he was strict with Yan Liqiang since his youth. He had him practice martial arts every day for the sake of getting stronger. ‘Did he wish for me to become powerful and progress towards becoming a Martial Warrior so that I will be capable enough to avenge her?’

This explained everything he had experienced at home since his childhood.

Should he ask father about it tomorrow?

No, he would definitely not tell him when sober unless he could move forward as a Martial Warrior and show him the hope of avenging her. Otherwise, he figured he might never hear the truth from his father.

Yan Liqiang tossed and turned relentlessly for half of the night and didn’t feel sleepy at all. In the end, he decided that he might as well get up and start practicing the Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing in his dark room.

The more he practiced this technique, the more Yan Liqiang could feel that his body seemed to gradually become addicted to the Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing. He’d feel uncomfortable from head to toe as soon as he missed a day of practice. The more he practiced, the more comfortable his body would feel, and he would often be brimming with bursting light and fluttery energy.

As soon as Yan Liqiang started practicing, he went straight for no less than three rounds and only stopped after the sky had turned bright. He then exited his room and made his way to the backyard where he usually trained his martial arts to exercise his muscles and bones for a while. After practicing two rounds of Tiger Roaring Consecutive Fist technique and seeing that it was about time for Zhou Hongda and his wife to finish preparing breakfast, he went into Yan Dechang’s room to help him with his morning routines.

By the time Yan Liqiang entered Yan Dechang’s room while carrying the water he had drawn, Yan Dechang was already awake and was slowly getting himself dressed.

“Father, your injuries have not healed yet. Take care to not reopen the wounds. Let me help you...”

“No need, no need. I’m slowly regaining my hand movements these past few days. I can already raise my arms up. Humans are like metal. If you don’t move, especially after an injury, you’ll get rusty and it’ll be even harder to heal. The old disorders won’t go but the new disorders will come. But by moving a little, the blood circulation in your whole body will improve and the body will also heal faster...” Yan Dechang refused Yan Liqiang’s help and insisted on doing things himself.

Seeing that Yan Dechang could already slowly get himself dressed, Yan Liqiang finally let out a sigh of relief as quite a lot of worries had been lifted from his heart.

As the saying goes, ‘joy puts heart into a man’. After getting a little drunk and emotional last night, Yan Dechang’s entire complexion suddenly improved significantly after a night of sleep. He seemed to be fully rested too. Although his movements were still a little slow, he could sit upright on the bed by himself and he could try to put his clothes, socks, and shoes on without Yan Liqiang’s assistance. After that, Yan Dechang refused Yan Liqiang’s help again and finished washing up himself.

Yan Liqiang could only stay in the room and watch Yan Dechang slowly finish every task.

In the end, when he saw that Yan Dechang was going to pour the water, Yan Liqiang hurriedly took the washbowl and pitcher from him. “Father, let me do it for you...”

“Alright...” Yan Dechang stopped insisting. However, he watched Yan Liqiang carry the washbowl outside with a complicated gaze. Just when Yan Liqiang reached the door, Yan Dechang suddenly called out to him again. “Liqiang...”

“Yes, father?” Yan Liqiang stopped and turned around.

Yan Decheng hesitated for a moment before asking a question. “Yesterday... after I got drunk, I remember you sending me back to the room. Did I say anything strange then?”

“You did, but it was nothing strange...” Yan Liqiang paled. “I remember you were very happy after you were drunk and you were telling me to continue working hard and cultivate diligently so that I can become a Martial Warrior soon...”

“Only that?” Yan Dechang stared closely at Yan Liqiang’s face. He seemed to be quite nervous.

“Of course!” Yan Liqiang laughed, the expression on his face was relaxed. “Father, your were slurring your words. If it weren’t for the fact that I’m your son, other people probably wouldn’t get what you were mumbling about!”

Seeing how the expression on Yan Liqiang’s face wasn’t strange at all, Yan Dechang finally let out a sigh of relief. “Yes, I had some wine yesterday and couldn’t even remember what I had said myself. I’m only worried that I might have acted a little crazy from having too much to drink and said something ridiculous. That’s why I had never touched a drop of liquor these past years. I made an exception last night out of joy. It seems like I really should hold back from drinking after this. Oh yes, Liqiang, I’ve really troubled you all this time!”

“Father, is there a need for a father to tell a son that?” Yan Liqiang made a face of resignation at Yan Dechang. “Father, you have raised me well. I’ve never told you that I’ve troubled you either. So are you implying that I have to tell you that a few times from now on? If you really want to hear that, then I can tell you that twenty or thirty times every day...”

Yan Liqiang almost made Yan Dechang laugh in amusement. There was a small smile on his face before he hurriedly put on a straight face again with a solemn expression. “What I mean to say is that my body is slowly recovering and I can already slowly take care of myself. We have Mother Wu, Zhou Hongda, and his wife to take care of house chores and cooking, so there’s no need for you to worry about them. From now on, you don’t need to stay around me so much and you can just focus on what you have to do like you did back then. Do what you are supposed to do and don’t slack on your cultivation, especially now that you are the first among the top three in the martial arts examination for the entire county. Countless people have their attention on you. It’s very important to strike while the iron is hot. Remain consistent in your cultivation, and don’t slack so that you won’t fall and become a laughing stock by the time you attend the Pingxi Prefecture martial arts academy and face many powerful opponents. Do you understand?”

“Rest assured, Father. I haven’t been slacking in my cultivation these days. This morning I even got up early to practice two rounds of fist technique. I will definitely become a Martial Warrior soon. I won’t let you down!”

“Good!” Yan Dechang nodded. “After breakfast, rest a little and then you shall continue your cultivation in your courtyard. From now on you don’t need to concern yourself with matters at home like in the past. You can’t afford to slack on your daily morning, afternoon, and evening training. You are old enough now, I’m not going to interrupt your training and I’m no longer capable of guiding you. You’ll have to plan yourself. However, you cannot drop the spear technique. I heard from Uncle Qian that you even managed to get a Horned Python Bow in the Weaponsmiths Quarter. If time allows, you should also practice archery...”

Yan Dechang seemed to have really recovered and also regained his Tiger Dad [1] demeanor as he started ordering Yan Liqiang again...

However, it seemed like Yan Dechang’s plan for today was destined to fail. When the father and son duo finished their breakfast, their home was instantly bustling with noise and excitement...

What the Yan Clan’s pair of father and son least expected was that Butcher Liu and his son would be the first ones to arrive at the Yan Residence today.

Just when Yan Liqiang, Yan Dechang, Steward Lu, and Zhou Tiezhu were chatting in the room after their breakfast, there was the sound of someone knocking on the door. A guard from the Lu Clan who was outside the courtyard opened the door. That guard from the Lu Clan didn’t know who Butcher Liu and his son were. Butcher Liu and his son were driving a bullock cart and the cart was loaded with something at the back. Butcher Liu explained with a smile on his face that they were neighbors from Liuhe Town and were here to congratulate the Yan Clan. Hence, the guard from the Lu Clan allowed Butcher Liu and his son to enter and even led both of them into the room.

“It’s you?” When Yan Liqiang saw Butcher Liu and his son walk in, he thought the both of them had come to the wrong place. The smile on Yan Dechang’s face, who was initially in a great mood, slowly faded.

The smile on Butcher Liu’s face was so sweet that it could even trick the housefly that was flying outside the courtyard to come in. Together with his son, he nodded and bowed to greet everyone in the room, “I heard that Liqiang had been honored as first place among the top three in the Martial Arts County Trial Examination yesterday. I was so excited that I couldn’t sleep the whole night so I brought my son along with me to choose a good pig first thing in the morning and slaughtered it as soon as I could and washed it clean before sending it over here as a small congratulatory gift. Both my son and I had consumed too much lard back then that our hearts had been clouded [1] and even our eyes were blind. If we have offended Brother Yan and Liqiang before, please do not take it to heart. We are neighbors on this street. If Brother Yan needs help in the future, don’t hesitate to let me know!”

There was a saying that went: “One should be forgiving towards people who are willing to apologize for their crimes by kneeling and pressing their foreheads against the ground, even if their crime is murder.” Yan Dechang was not a petty person to begin with. However, at this very moment, when he saw Butcher Liu and his son acknowledging their mistakes and delivering their gifts, he couldn’t help but feel extremely delighted in his heart. With this, half of the conflicts he had with Butcher Liu in the past were instantly dissolved. Yan Dechang’s expression had also softened. Although the resentment he had for him had dissolved considerably, he couldn’t immediately change his expression and face Butcher Liu with a smile right then with his straightforward personality.

Yan Liqiang glanced at Yan Dechang who was at a loss for words. He knew his father wasn’t used to dealing with such a situation so he smiled and spoke to Butcher Liu, “That’s very kind of you, Uncle Liu! Dafu and I have been playmates since young. Who in the world would still take those little disputes that happened we were younger and those little conflicts between neighbors to heart after all these years. I don’t even remember any of it! Isn’t that right, Dafu?”

Butcher Liu’s son, Liu Dafu, had been hanging his head since he entered the room and was timidly looking at other people in the room. He didn’t expect that Yan Liqiang would take the initiative to talk to him. So all he could manage was nervous stammering while he nodded his head violently, “Oh yes... Yes....Yes....no one took it to heart, no one took it to heart....”

“Uncle Liu! Come, have a seat.”

If Yan Liqiang had held his head high right now or had even given him two slaps across his face, Butcher Liu would have felt more at ease. But instead, the more polite Yan Liqiang was, the more nervous Butcher Liu became. He had no idea why the smile he saw on Yan Liqiang’s face right now that was as refreshing as the spring breeze was even more fearsome and frightening than Old Master Hong who had glared at him when he delivered the meat to the Hong Residence back then.

Although Yan Liqiang called him Uncle Liu, Butcher Liu didn’t dare to really consider himself Yan Liqiang’s uncle. He still understood such propriety. He was also aware of the saying that went: “A biting dog doesn’t bark, and a man-eating tiger doesn’t look any fiercer than a cat before it consumes.”

“It’s alright, I’m fine. The gifts I brought here are still outside on the bullock cart. Let me move them inside....” Butcher Liu pulled his son along and left the room to move the gifts right away.

Yan Liqiang, Yan Dechang, and the others also exited the room.

The main entrance of the Yan Clan’s courtyard was opened and Butcher Liu immediately drove the bullock cart in. On the bullock cart was a whole fat pig and some bottles. It certainly looked like they had been prepared by Butcher Liu early in the morning.

“A whole pig is too much. We won’t be able to finish it either. As long as Uncle Liu is sincere, just a pork leg will do!”

“It’s not a lot, not at all. You can leave some of the meat to enjoy them fresh and marinate the rest for later. I also specially went out to buy some salt, wine, spicy noodles, pepper, as well as spice powder this morning. It only took Dafu and I a little while to get all this done. My culinary skill only goes this far!” Butcher Liu said while he promptly unloaded the gifts from the cart. Zhou Hongda and his wife hurried over to help at once.

Aside from slaughtering pigs, Butcher Liu was also very famous for his marinated meat in Liuhe Town. It could be preserved for a longer time and furthermore, the texture was also pretty good to chew. In this era, the common folks didn’t necessarily get to eat fresh meat every day at home. Some marinated meat and dried food could always be seen hanging in the kitchens of most homes.

Yan Liqiang didn’t say much and let Butcher Liu and his son deal with the things they had to do when he saw that Butcher Liu had indeed prepared everything as there was even a newly-bought hook for them to hang the marinated meat.

Seeing that Yan Liqiang no longer declined his offer, Butcher Liu and his son raised their spirits. After they carried the pork into the kitchen, they started to put in their utmost effort in preparing it.

Lu Wenbin was a wise person who handled matters maturely. He had more or less guessed the relationship between Butcher Liu and the Yan Clan’s father and son from that brief conversation from before. When Butcher Liu and his son were marinating the pork in the kitchen, he had even lingered in the kitchen for a while on purpose. Soon after that, he exited the kitchen, came before Yan Liqiang, and then whispered in his ear, “I have examined the meat and the ingredients and have also tasted them. There is nothing wrong with them. I’ve already asked Zhou Hongda to watch them in the kitchen!”

Yan Liqiang smiled, “Steward Lu, except for a pork leg, estimate the cost of everything including the labor and pay them later when they leave...”

“How thoughtful of Young Master Yan!” Steward Lu smiled too. The current Yan Clan indeed didn’t need to leave any topics for others to gossip about over such petty matters, “I have already sent someone to inform the Lu Clan when I found out that Young Master Yan had placed first among the top three in the Martial Arts Examination yesterday. Sixth Master will personally bring a congratulatory gift over to congratulate Young Master Yan soon!”

“That’s too kind of Old Master Lu and Sixth Master!”

“That’s the least we can do. Old Master Lu might have been even more ecstatic than Young Master Yan when he knew that you placed first yesterday. Since Young Master Yan’s reputation was suddenly spread around in Qinghe County yesterday, I presume that the matchmakers will be banging on your door in these few days time if they find out that Young Master Yan is still a bachelor!” Steward Lu appeared to be joking but there was actually some sort of hint in his words.

“Just send those matchmakers and whatnot away if they come, Steward Lu. I feel that marriage should still depend on fate. Matchmaking is a little too much for my taste...” Yan Liqiang smiled and exchanged a glance with Steward Lu. Both of them had a tacit mutual understanding. Yan Liqiang would be too dense if he still didn’t understand Lu Clan’s intention at this point. Steward Lu was also extremely pleased with Yan Liqiang’s response. This was the attitude that a potential son-in-law of the Lu Clan should have.

While Butcher Liu and his son were still busy in the kitchen, the other neighbors had already arrived. The great clans in Liuhe Town as well as those with high reputation from the neighboring town came in waves.

The Yan Clan’s father and son knew most of these neighbors, but there were also some whom they weren’t familiar with. Nevertheless, they still brought their gifts for the Yan Clan at this time.

Some of the neighbors brought fresh vegetables from the fields and their own courtyards. Some brought a bottle of well-aged wine. Some also brought few feet of long fabric, live chickens and duck, and even a basketful of chicken eggs and some dried fruits. A few of the villagers brought few auspicious calligraphy scrolls such as ‘First Among Top Three’, ‘Pride of the Town’, and others.

As for those great, generous and wealthy clans, they directly gifted quite a generous amount of either money, silver, or gold.

The people who came to give the gifts did not stop coming. In the end, the crowd which had gathered at the Yan Residence had gotten so large that even the living room wasn’t able to accomodate the guests anymore. Everyone instead moved to the courtyard and the entire courtyard was extremely lively.

Yan Liqiang wasn’t able to cultivate in such a situation. All he could do was accompany Yan Dechang to entertain the neighbors in the courtyard.

Surprisingly, the Shen Clan from Qinghe County had also ordered a steward to send fifty taels of gold and two different colored silks of the finest quality to Yan Liqiang as congratulatory gifts before noon.

When the neighbors who had gathered in Yan Liqiang’s courtyard found out that those gifts were from the Shen Clan of Qinghe County, they couldn’t help but gasp in surprise. Every single one of them gazed at the beautiful rolls of silk and the red packets delivered to the Yan Clan by the Shen Clan’s guard with envy.

But that was not the end of everyone’s gasps of surprise. By noon, Lu Peien from the Lu Clan of Huanglong County arrived along with Qian Su. The Lu Clan’s gifts were even more generous. There were a hundred taels of gold, a sword of the finest quality along with ten different colored rolls of silk.

Qian Su brought Yan Liqiang’s gift which was was an exquisite spear that was more than three meters long and made out of a variety of ashwoods by the blacksmiths in the Weaponsmiths Quarter.

With all these people around, the place had obviously become even more lively. And as expected...

A bunch of matchmakers also hurried here in the afternoon. Yan Liqiang directly let Steward Lu send those matchmakers away instead of doing it himself.

Yan Clan practically had a bustling courtyard in this entire day. The horse carriages and the different types of people that came and went from the Yan Residence had heavily congested the road outside the Yan Residence. Yan Liqiang felt like he was an usher and his whole face was sore from smiling.

After a hectic day, everything came to an end at night. Yan Liqiang could also finally catch his breath. He felt that dealing with all this for the entire day was even more tiring than participating in the Martial Arts Examination.

Inside one of the side rooms in the residence, Yan Dechang finally saw all sorts of congratulatory gifts piled up as high as a hill. He was dumbstruck by the sight of it.

Before he had fully came back to his senses, Yan Dechang asked, “How could it be this much?”

“There are still a lot of poultries and food that have not been placed in here!” Yan Liqiang passed a guest list to Yan Dechang, “The congratulatory gifts we received today were recorded by Steward Lu in here. Putting aside gifts like fabrics, silks, weapons, and armor, the money we received today alone was a grand total of 1,800 taels of silver and 220 taels of gold...”

“How can we fit all these things in our house? I’m too worried to keep all of this here too as they look inviting to thieves! Looks like I’ll need to get someone to build a few cabinets tomorrow...” Yan Dechang said while feeling both happy and worried at the same time.

When Yan Liqiang heard that Yan Dechang wanted to look for someone to build some cabinets, he finally voiced out the words he had been holding in for a long time, “I suppose we don’t only need to get a few cabinets. The rooms and the courtyard in the residence need renovation as well. It wouldn’t be safe to stash away all this money at home either since Steward Lu and the others are leaving in a few days and it’ll be a very easy target. It would be best to buy a land in town and two stores in the county. That way, no one would be able take them away.....”

A bank is a product made when finance and economy have developed to a certain extent. On the Silver Continent, banks didn’t exist, but there were monetary houses.

On the Silver Continent, precious metals like gold, silver, and bronze were used as basic currency. In this world, they didn’t have a system that issued out and trusted in paper money. The main reason for the existence of monetary houses was to circulate metallic currency that would otherwise be inconvenient to carry around in large amounts. Take for example, a merchant who was traveling to a foreign land to obtain goods that were worth a thousand taels of silver. If monetary houses didn’t exist, then he would have to personally carry a bulky and enormous amount of wealth on his journey. This was not only inconveniently heavy, but also extremely risky. These circumstances had brought about the emergence of monetary houses to fulfill an age-old demand. Monetary houses enabled people to procure goods by carrying only golden and silver promissory notes of equivalent value.

Golden and silver promissory notes were items that were issued by a monetary house. To put it simply, neither the golden nor silver promissory notes were ‘paper money’. In fact, they were receipts that were issued out by monetary houses. This was also the main difference between a monetary house and a bank. A central bank that possessed the distribution rights to a currency could issue that currency based on trust. However, the purpose of commercial banks was not to facilitate the circulation of currency, but rather to convert the public’s unused money into the bank’s investments.

The people of the Silver Continent deposited their gold or silver currency into the monetary house mainly for the convenience of its portability and usage. The objective of a monetary house was to safekeep, transact, and circulate the money a person puts in the monetary house. For the people of the Silver Continent who stored their money in the monetary house, not only were they not given an interest rate, but they also had to pay the monetary house a fixed fee.

When passing money, a custodial and circulation fee was also required. This concept would be nothing but sheer fantasy back in Yan Liqiang’s past life. However in this world, this was deemed to be totally reasonable and fair. No one saw anything wrong with it. In reality, in his past life, everyone was actually paying a custodial fee as well when they used the bank’s services to store their money, and this custodial fee came from the balance of deducting the bank’s interest from inflation. It was just that no one actually noticed this fact.

When he received those five hundred taels of gold from the Lu Clan, Yan Liqiang had already thought of saving this big sum of money in the monetary house to earn the interest. But back then, Yan Liqiang was still making calculations. If the monetary houses here provided 5% interest, then by heavily relying on the five hundred taels of gold alone, he’d be getting twenty-five taels of gold as interest every year. With those twenty five taels of gold, Yan Liqiang and Yan Dechang would no longer have any financial worries.

However, the cruel reality of this world very quickly jerked Yan Liqiang awake from his wonderful dream of ‘earning money effortlessly’. After understanding how a monetary house operated, Yan Liqiang realized that if he were to store his gold in the monetary house, not only would his savings not grow, it would also reduce with time.

It went without saying that Yan Liqiang found this unacceptable.

Coming home, while thinking up how to resolve the threats of the Hong Clan, Yan Liqiang was already planning on how to use the gold at the same time.

Yan Dechang was getting on in years and he wasn’t cultivating. His stamina would gradually decline along with his age. Blacksmithing was becoming increasingly difficult to carry on as a trade. On top of that, Yan Dechang had sustained severe injuries. Even after his body recovered, he’d still have to take it easy for a very long period of time. For at least half a year, he shouldn’t be doing heavy work. He’d even have to put off swinging a hammer for a bit. Faced with such realistic issues relating to their survival, Yan Liqiang had no choice but to reconsider their future source of income at home. This source of income wouldn’t only affect his father’s livelihood in the future, but also how comfortably Yan Liqiang would live in this world.

Practicing martial arts might not be a necessity for everyone’s survival, but food, clothes and shelter were necessities in everyone’s life. And the latter items were all matters that required money to solve.

Lately, Yan Liqiang’s mind was frequently filled with questions on what to do with that money. He had thoughts of investing, thoughts of manufacturing four-wheeled horse carriages, thoughts of manufacturing a lighter that would be easier to bring and use than fire steel. In the end however, after doing some research, he realized that although his ideas were good, they weren’t really feasible and were hard for him to accomplish at this point of time.

First of all, the idea of stock-trading didn’t exist in this world. Those who ran businesses had partners too. However, looking for a partner to invest wasn’t a matter that could be accomplished overnight. Their clan currently didn’t have the necessary background and connections either.

Secondly, he had also thought about making use of the blacksmith workshop at home to make some small inventions or creations. The concepts of a four-wheeled horse carriage and a lighter were actually very simple. His house’s blacksmith store did in fact forge fire steels, so he could easily create a lighter or the main structure of a four-wheeled horse carriage. Unfortunately, registering to patent an invention wasn’t practiced in this world. If he were to modify fire steels into lighters or create a four-wheeled horse carriage, other people could just buy one, take it apart and be enlightened in just three seconds. The same object would then be mass produced by larger and more established blacksmith workshops. Hence, apart from earning a small amount of money through the items that he had painstakingly created from the beginning, he reckoned that they would later become common objects that were hardly worth any special attention.

After deliberating over every possibility, Yan Liqiang eventually realized that the best option available to him was buying land and stores.

He’d buy a piece of land and hire a farmer to take care of the plantation. After establishing a crop share rental arrangement with the hired farmer, he’d basically have a stable income as long as there weren’t any major natural or human disasters. He’d store some food for himself and sell the surplus for money. That way, his family wouldn’t need to worry about surviving in general.

With more money, he could buy another piece of land. The more land he owned, the faster his income would accumulate. Not only that, more people would be relying on him for a living, and his territory would grow. With land, money, and human resources, people would naturally sign on for a protection fee. When that time arrived, he’d have to hire guards. If he wished for stability and to avoid unnecessary attention, he’d have to improve his relations with the government and other parties of influence. This way, his connections would expand; he’d slowly and gradually gain power and influence over other territories. This was how a local tycoon or local tyrant came to be.

The Hong Clan, Lu Clan, and Shen Clan had used this method. The larger, wealthier clans were also using the same method. Countless heroes of ancient China had done the same. Since so many people were doing this, and he had no better options, Yan Liqiang had no choice but to do the same as well. There was no way he’d do nothing about that much gold and just live on his current capital.

A few days ago, Yan Liqiang had wanted to briefly mention his plan of buying land to Yan Dechang. However, during those few days, Yan Dechang hadn’t been doing well with his recovery and on top of that, Yan Liqiang had yet to complete the martial arts examination as well. So Yan Liqiang could only hold back from talking about it. He didn’t expect his home to suddenly be crowded with that many visitors. He’d gotten so many congratulatory gifts that they barely fit inside his room. And so Yan Liqiang seized the opportunity to share his idea with Yan Dechang.

Apart from buying land, it had been a few decades since any improvements had been done to his residence. It was already turning quite shabby so it was probably time for some maintenance.

After a moment’s consideration, Yan Dechang agreed.

Yan Liqiang instantly breathed a sigh of relief when he got Yan Dechang’s approval.

Shi Dafeng had invited him to go on a tour, but he didn’t join him. He wanted to use these two months of free time to settle the issues back at home before he went to report to the martial arts academy of Pingxi Prefecture. He wanted his father to be able to live a more comfortable life while he was away from Qinghe County. As his son, the least he could do was make sure that his father didn’t have to work so hard that his hair was disheveled and his face was dirty, that he wouldn’t have to scrimp and save every day.

Yan Liqiang wasn’t really knowledgeable about things like purchasing land, purchasing shops, and building houses. But that didn’t matter because there was someone at home who knew just what to do. Hence, Yan Liqiang decided that he’d simply leave this matter to Lu Wenbin.

Apart from saving fifty taels of gold and five hundred taels of silver as a reserve, Yan Liqiang was prepared to spend all the gold that the Lu Clan had given to him–and the congratulatory gift money he’d received–to buy land, to buy stores, and to build houses.

...

After settling these matters, by daybreak on the second day after the examination, Yan Liqiang had already immersed himself back into his training without a second thought...

Yan Liqiang didn’t hesitate because he suddenly realized that if time and energy could be investments, then he’d invest his time and energy on training. In this world, this was simply a good trade of small capital in exchange for a huge profit.

When he thought about it, training could give a person a healthier and stronger physical body, along with the formidable strength that would allow a person to protect themselves and their family. With these at hand, one could also repay debts of gratitude and revenge. Not only that, it also made it possible for one to obtain even more gold, silver, beautiful women, manors and a comfortable lifestyle. It allowed you to become a figure that was revered by others, and to be a member of the higher social classes. Where else could one possibly find a better deal...?

Fine rain drizzled endlessly from the sky, causing the surface of the river to turn misty. The visibility of it had reduced significantly. The passenger ship which just moved out from the Qinghe County wharf also couldn’t help but decrease the speed at which they were traveling after they entered the Xi River from the Willow River.

A woman carrying a tightly swaddled infant was sitting on the hold of the ship by the window. The window’s bolt was already a little damaged so the window couldn’t be shut completely. The moment the rain poured, the wind and the drizzle on the river’s surface got tangled up with the wave of cold air that flew in through the small crack of the window. Coming into contact with it, the swaddled baby who was sleeping soundly began to cry loudly as a result.

The woman with the infant swaddled the baby securely to shelter the infant from the storm and cold, while attempting to amuse the wailing baby. The storm outside rattled the window which couldn’t be shut tight. The woman wanted to reach out to close the window but since she needed to carry and amuse her baby, she was momentarily at a loss on what to do. The baby’s cries also began to get louder and louder...

“Big Sister, if you don’t mind, why don’t we exchange seats...” At this moment, a voice suddenly emerged from behind the woman. The woman carrying the infant turned to look and took in the sight of red lips and white teeth – a pure-spirited handsome and bright young man around fourteen to fifteen years old. He stood up from his seat at the back and smiled at her.

The young man’s seat was directly behind the woman’s. There weren’t any windows at the side which happened to shelter the place from the wind and the drizzling rain outside.

“Thank you very much! Thank you so much...” The woman hurriedly stood up while she carried her child, thanking him as she exchanged seats with him.

The youngster moved to the front seat, placing the leather bag he carried on his back on his knees. His leather bag managed to shelter the majority of his body from the rain that was blowing in from the window; the rain was unable to touch his body. Then, the young man, calm and unruffled, tilted his head to enjoy the scenery outside on the river with interest.

This young man was Yan Liqiang. Today, it was already the 27th of the eighth lunar month in the 12th year of the Yuanping reign. Yan Liqiang had left both Liuhe Town and Qinghe County a day earlier to report himself at Pingxi Prefectural City’s martial arts academy.

The young man at fourteen to fifteen years of age was currently experiencing adolescent development. During these two months, Yan Liqiang had been practicing the Muscle Tendon Changing every day without fail. In a short span of two months, his body height had grown another inch more and his figure was stronger with increased strength potential. Even the aura he emitted appeared to be different compared to two months ago. His eyes were particularly clear and alert. Regardless of who saw the state he was in now, they would praise him in their hearts for such a graceful and handsome young man he had become.

Within these two months, apart from being immersed in cultivating, Yan Liqiang didn’t need to worry about the situation back at home.

Yan Dechang’s body was already gradually healing. Apart from some heavy tasks in forging ironware, he was able to move about at ease. A few days ago in the blacksmith workshop, Yan Dechang began to gradually impart his well-kept secret techniques of controlling the temperature as well as creating high-grade well-tempered steel to Zhou Tiezhu.

These techniques were originally unique skills that Yan Dechang had held back from divulging as a master so he wouldn’t easily impart the knowledge to his disciple. But Zhou Tiezhu had shown his character and he shouldered responsibility when the Yan Clan was faced with a crisis. He spared no effort to bear the hardships together with the Yan Clan. Yan Dechang had noticed everything in the tail of his eye. He was incredibly touched. Once they got through the crisis, he officially imparted his genuine techniques in smithing to Zhou Tiezhu.

Within the two months after Yan Liqiang received first place in the Martial Arts County Trial Examination, the reputation of the Yan Clan’s blacksmith workshop in Liuhe Town suddenly spread like wildfire. Not just in Liuhe Town, even the surrounding towns as the many residents in the county seat would flock over due to the name. The Yan Clan’s blacksmith workshop business instantly improved more than tenfold. There was an endless stream of customers who dropped in every day.

Under this circumstance, Yan Dechang went according to Yan Liqiang’s suggestion and extended the blacksmith workshop over the past two months. He then recruited six disciples who had always wanted to be his disciples in the workshop from the town and gave Zhou Tiezhu a thirty percent share in the Yan Clan’s blacksmith workshop. He allowed Zhou Tiezhu to begin training his junior brothers as a senior brother and become a master in his own right.

Thus, after imparting his well-guarded techniques to Zhou Tiezhu, Yan Dechang from then on became the Yan Clan’s blacksmith workshop’s shopkeeper and head while Zhou Tiezhu in turn became the master as well as the person in charge of specific tasks in the blacksmith workshop.

On top of that, under Yan Liqiang’s persistence, the business operations of the Yan Clan’s blacksmith workshop was revamped.

Prior to this, the Yan Clan’s blacksmith workshop was no different than other workshops and would accept almost any request, ranging from farming tools used daily to hoes, horseshoes, horse nails, locks, cleavers, sickles, axes, swords, breastplates to fire steels....and more. So long as the customers needed it, the Yan Clan’s blacksmith workshop would assist to forge it; but now they would only make one thing: blades, which were weapons.

Yan Dechang was also skeptical at first about making such a significant change in their business model. However, Yan Liqiang easily convinced him that since there were so many customers dropping in and requesting for a myriad of items, Yan Dechang wouldn’t be able to cope with it even if he recruited ten more disciples based on the scale of the blacksmith workshop now. When that happened, he would be pushing all his customers away and if he didn’t accept them, they would be offended. As a result, the Yan Clan would be insulted, and this would cause endless slander that would ultimately destroy their reputation. If he accepted everyone’s requests, then he would be offending the neighboring towns’ blacksmiths and would be resented by them because the other blacksmith workshops’ businesses were also involved in forging ordinary farming tools, hoes, horseshoes, horse nails, locks, cleavers, fire steels and the like. If he accepted requests from the neighboring towns, how would the other blacksmith shops and those of the same trade earn their keep? Under this circumstance, the Yan Clan’s blacksmith workshop would only focus the scope of their goods on weapons such as swords, they’d spread word that they specialized in this area to completely avert this issue...

When it came to weapons such as blades, they garnered high profits and had a wide range of demands. Furthermore, there was no direct competition with the blacksmith workshops in the neighboring towns. Thus, the decision for the Yan Clan’s blacksmith store to specialize in weapon crafting did not have any effect on the other blacksmith stores, wouldn’t destroy the livelihood of the surrounding workers of the same trade, and they would not be offending the customers that stopped by. It could even result in a good reputation. So long as the swords and blades crafted by the Yan Clan’s blacksmith workshop were up to par, they wouldn’t need to worry about the lack of sales.

As for the quality of the weapons produced, although Blacksmith Yan couldn’t forge a sword of the highest quality, he wouldn’t face any issues in forging a solid sword.

Exactly one week ago, a brand new shop sign was suspended in the expanded blacksmith workshop of the Yan Clan. The shop sign read two words, ‘Yan Blades’.

Yan Liqiang exhibited his painting skill and designed an artistic and unrivaled logo for their own blade products – a vicious tiger and a soaring dragon spiraling into an abstract and succinct circle. Within the circle was the character for Yan. Yan Liqiang told Yan Dechang that every blade forged by the Yan Clan would need to be sealed with this steel engraving, marked with this symbol to signify that this item was created by the Yan Clan.

The artisans in this era were still unfamiliar with the idea of a logo, let alone the concept of intangible assets. However, to Yan Liqiang who had lived two lives clearly understood the significance.

Prior to this, Yan Dechang wasn’t really impressed either. However, after he saw the Yan logo Yan Liqiang revealed, a sense of dignified glory rippled throughout his heart. He said to Yan Liqiang that since every blade would be sealed with Yan, the blades that did not pass his inspection would never be sold to anyone, so as to avoid tarnishing the reputation of the Yan Clan.

Regarding this, Yan Liqiang was naturally more than happy to oblige.

Besides the huge change that took place at the blacksmith workshop in the two months, the matter in which Yan Liqiang requested Lu Wenbin to purchase both a land and a store also returned with results.

Speaking of which, it was really a coincidence. The land and store that Lu Wenbin bought for the Yan Clan were assets belonged to the Hong Clan before.

After Old Master Hong passed away, the news of the Hong Clan hiring an assassin to deal with the Yan Clan was abuzz in Qinghe County. Almost everyone knew about it. Qinghe County immediately used the fact that the descendants of the Hong Clan were wicked and had brought chaos to the law as a reason to confiscate the Hong Clan’s two hundred mu of conferred fields.

Hong Clan had fallen apart, leading the outsiders to covet their assets. The more than four hundred mu of land that the Hong Clan had in Yuntao County, as well as the yellow noodles factory, was unexpectedly occupied by a couple of local tyrants using the IOU previously issued by Hong An in the end. The remaining members of the Hong Clan were useless. A couple of the younger folks in the Hong Clan went to the file a lawsuit at Yuntao County but they didn’t win it. It wasn’t possible for the land and the factory to be taken back so they were completely helpless in the face of crisis.

Without the assets in Yuntao County, the people of the Hong Clan was even more aggressive in fighting over the remaining farmlands and housing in Liuhe Town. The remaining people in the Hong Clan simply divided up the lands and distributed them equally. After the assets were distributed, the people were worried that there might be some others who would come to wrangle and occupy their properties by force with another IOU slip in hand. In addition to that, the Hong Clan’s reputation in Qinghe County and Liuhe Town was tarnished. And since Yan Liqiang won first place in the Martial Arts County Trial Examination, the status of the Yan Clan in Liuhe Town was different from before. Fearing that the Yan Clan would seek revenge against them, the people left in the Hong Clan were in a hurry to exchange the lands into money so they could reap the profits before taking the wealth with them to flee from Liuhe Town.

Under such conditions, after Steward Lu discussed this with Yan Liqiang, he would step in under the name of Lu Clan to directly purchase the 460 plus mu of lands, inclusive of the connecting first-rate fertile lands as well as six two-story loft storefronts and two yellow noodles factory from the descendants of Hong Clan at an extremely profitable price. He bought everything and transferred everything to the Yan Clan in the name of the Lu Clan.

Throughout the entire ordeal, Steward Lu did an impeccable job. Nobody was able to find even the slightest fault in it. When he was trading with the Hong Clan, Steward Lu had even called for a witness and a lawyer. Once he had obtained the deeds for the lands and the residence from the Hong Clan during the delivery, he went to the government office in Qinghe County to file it and have it recorded. After that, when the Lu Clan passed these items to the Yan Clan, they performed the procedures again.

In Liuhe Town, the Hong Clan’s old manor and the other scattered fields and properties had been bought out by other rich families.

After the assets were sold off, the people of the Hong Clan moved away one after another from Liuhe Town. The entire Hong Clan practically vanished like smoke in thin air in the blink of an eye from the town. They didn’t leave anything behind, except for Hong Tao who had gone insane, going about to babble nonsense every single day as the children ridiculed him.

As for the Yan Clan, they had also become a great family and landowner possessing numerous mu of good agricultural lands in Liuhe Town in one single leap. Those employed farmers who used to work for the Hong Clan had to now rely on the Yan Clan one after another. They signed a contract with the Yan Clan and became their employed farmers.

With the sudden growth in their family property, it would require manpower to help them manage and administer it. Under such circumstances, Zhou Hongda and his wife permanently stayed at the Yan Clan. Both husband and wife did their duty and were diligent in their tasks. Zhou Hongda’s wife and Mother Wu were responsible for the affairs at the residence and would perform chores such as cooking meals and cleaning every day. As for Zhou Hongda, he instantly became the Yan Clan’s first steward.

Now that there were more mouths to feed at home, both Zhou Hongda’s wife and Mother Wu were beginning to find it difficult to cope with. With no other choice, they fired a couple of maids and servants. As a steward, Zhou Hongda would occasionally need to claim rent and deal with the employed farmers. Sometimes, relying on glib talk was pointless as he wasn’t able to attend to the land tax dealings on his own. Thus, the Yan Clan hired another two guards.

With so many people to feed that were living in the Yan Residence, the small residence that the Yan Clan had before wasn’t enough at all. When Yan Liqiang left Liuhe Town, the new large manor of the Yan Clan located at the edge of the Willow River was undergoing construction like wildfire...

After the name ‘Yan Blades’ was widespread, Yan Dechang still felt anxious during that time because he was worried whether his blacksmith workshop could support so many disciples. Thus, before Yan Liqiang left, Yan Liqiang once again drew a new weapon diagram for Yan Dechang with ease and requested the Yan Clan’s blacksmith workshop to specialize in forging this item...

The weapon diagram that Yan Liqiang left behind was a Nepalese curved knife, commonly referred to as a ‘kukri knife’.

In his past life on Earth, although the Nepalese curved knife design was odd, it was a revered weapon that greatly conformed to the physics of the world.

Relying on this weapon would topple every practitioner and martial artist’s impression towards curved knives in this era. Yan Liqiang was absolutely confident that he could make a name for Yan Blades brand...

The traveling distance between Qinghe County to Pingxi City via water was a lot further than traveling to Huanglong County via water. The boat that Yan Liqiang caught in the morning only arrived at the Xi River Wharf of Pingxi City when it was nearly dusk.

At this moment, the wind and rain still showed no signs of stopping. Instead, it rained even harder. The entire Xi River was shrouded by the hazy rain.

The passenger ship docked at the wharf with a light shake. From the window, Yan Liqiang could see a few boatmen swiftly leap onto the dock. When the mooring lines at the boat’s bow and stern were tied around the iron bollards on the dock, only then the swaying boat gradually stabilize.

“Everyone, get off the boat, get off the boat. Check if you have all your belongings and luggage with you. Don’t leave them onboard...” In response to the shout of the boatmen outside, the passengers in the cabin stood up one by one. They gathered their own luggage and parcels before moving their feet and exiting the cabin. On the deck outside, they quickly got off the ship by crossing a few wooden planks on the dock.

Yan Liqiang also carried his own luggage on his back and slowly made his way outside along with the rest.

“Little brother, you haven’t eaten yet, right? Would you like to come to my house for a meal after we get off the boat? My house isn’t too far from Xi River Wharf...” The woman whom Yan Liqiang had given up his seat for on the boat swaddled her child on her and carried a cloth-wrapped bundle in her arm. She queued in front of Yan Liqiang and was even cordially inviting Yan Liqiang to her house for a meal.

“Sister-in-law, that was nothing. There’s no need for you to be so courteous...”

“Little Brother, you’re a really nice person...”

Both of them chatted while they exited the cabin. It was still raining hard outside. The deck was quite slippery from the rain. The boatmen laid a few shabby straw mats on the deck and wooden planks. Then they called for everyone to disembark the boat.

A man in his thirties with a stocky build was waiting on the dock with two umbrellas in his hands. When he saw the woman get off the boat, he quickly came over and held up one of the umbrellas while he inquired about her well-being with great care. He even hurriedly checked up on the child that the woman was carrying on her back. However, the woman gestured towards Yan Liqiang who was behind and softly said a few words to that man. That man immediately came before Yan Liqiang with a grateful expression on his face. “Little Brother, you have my gratitude. Something came up and I couldn’t accompany my wife and son back to her parent’s house this time in Qinghe County. Thank you for taking care of them during the journey!”

“Big Brother, no need to be so courteous. This is nothing!”

“Little Brother, it’s still raining right now. Take this umbrella and use it. Don’t get drenched by this rain and catch a cold...”

“No, it’s fine. I really don’t need it. Besides, if I take your umbrella, what about you then, Big Brother...?”

“If you don’t accept it then that means you mind it. My house is nearby, I can get there in just a few steps. You don’t have to worry about me...” That man directly shoved the umbrella he was holding into Yan Liqiang’s hand while speaking and then ran back to his wife and son. He took the umbrella from the woman’s hand to cover two and then left the wharf together with them.

Seeing half of the man’s big body being drenched in the rain and then looking at the oil-paper umbrella in his hands, Yan Liqiang’s heart was strangely warm and he was rather moved.

Over these past few months after he had reincarnated, many memories and feelings related to his previous life were slowly fading away. He was getting more and more used to everything in this world, and was slowly blending into his current identity as an ordinary Chinese youth in the Pingxi Prefecture of Gan Province in the Great Han Empire. The people who lived in this world were similar to many of the average people around him in his previous life. They were down-to-earth, kind, and hardworking. Most of the time, just a warm smile and a very simple ‘have you eaten yet’ greeting could win over any words.

When he glanced at the oil-paper umbrella he was holding, Yan Liqiang smiled. He pushed it open and held it up before making his way towards Pingxi City in the distance.

The Xi River Wharf wasn’t too far from the northern gate of Pingxi City; they were only more than a thousand meters apart. Standing at the dock, the Pingxi City’s northern gate tower could be seen towering in a distance like a gigantic beast in the midst of the hazy rain.

There was a market town at the wharf. Signboards of various trading stores and rows of warehouses could be seen everywhere in the town that seemed to be very flourished. Perhaps due to the rain, there were very few pedestrians at the wharf and town. Though some appeared from time to time, they all seemed to be in a hurry.

There were a few horse carriages at the roadside that were carrying passengers to Pingxi City. A coachman draped in a straw raincoat was sheltering himself from the rain under one of the trading stores’ roofs at the roadside along with his carriage. Yan Liqiang walked over to him to inquire about the price and found out that it cost one copper coin to travel from there to the northern gate of Pingxi Prefecture. That wasn’t really expensive as it was equivalent to the cost of a steamed bun. However, Yan Liqiang would have to stay there and wait until the carriage was fully loaded with six passengers before setting off.

Looking at this rainy weather, he wasn’t sure how long he would have to wait for another five people to appear. However, paying six copper coins for such a short distance would be a little too expensive. Since Yan Liqiang wasn’t that frail, he decided to pass on riding the horse carriage. He held his umbrella up and made his way towards the northern gate of Pingxi City on foot after finding his bearings.

As expected, the road at the outskirts of Pingxi City was very well maintained. It was a standard public road. Even during rainy days, other than feeling a little slippery, the public road wasn’t too muddy. Yan Liqiang walked from the wharf to the northern gate and his boots didn’t even have mud on them.

There were soldiers standing guard at the gate of Pingxi Prefecture. There was also a money collection box placed at the entrance. Anyone who wished to enter the city would have to pay an entrance fee of two copper coins.

When Yan Liqiang was lining up, a wave of chaotic noises suddenly rang out from behind. He turned around and saw a band of more than ten camels and rhinodrake steeds arriving before the gate.

Those camels were fully loaded with boxes and goods, while the strangely dressed riders that totally didn’t look Chinese were riding on the backs of those rhinodrake steeds. Their hair and eyes were of a pale red color, and their eyes were quite hooded. All of them had very thick hair and beards. Anyone could tell that these riders were from a different tribe at first glance. Each one of them had a scimitar hanging on their waist and a few of the riders even had a bow and a quiver of arrows hanging from the saddles of their steeds. All of them haughtily charged towards the city gate.

Even when they were already near the city gate, those foreign riders showed no signs of slowing down their rhinodrake steeds. A few pedestrians walking in the middle of the road who couldn’t evade in time fell into the muddy puddles at the roadside, looking extremely pathetic. The few foreign riders were still sitting high up on their rhinodrake steeds, not sparing even a single glance at those who had been knocked down by them. Two riders glanced coldly at the people who had been knocked to the ground. The corners of their lips were even curled up into a disdainful smile.

That band of foreign riders directly charged towards the city gate and ostentatiously passed through the gates on their steeds just like that without being examined by the soldiers at the entrance nor did they pay the entrance fee. Not only that, they even looked down upon the people standing on either side of the gate arrogantly and disdainfully.

One of the young soldiers clenched his fists and was about to step forward before he was pulled back by another soldier. “Have you forgotten about what happened to Commandant Gao? If these Shatu people cause a ruckus at the city gate and the ones in the city also get rowdy, the higher ups will only punish us. They won’t dare to lay a finger on the Shatu people...”

“But Leader, this...” The young soldier’s face was flushed with anger.

“Enough. Let’s just focus on our duty. You have only been here for a few days and probably don’t know this well yet. The Shatu people’ arrogance isn’t something new. Haa...” The leader who held that young soldier back let out a sigh and then gave a pat on the younger soldier’s shoulder while shaking his head.

Quite a number of people in the surroundings also sighed...

Yan Liqiang was just standing at the city entrance as he watched how the caravan of Shatu people charged through it without paying a single copper coin for the entrance fee or even getting off from their steeds. He simply couldn’t believe his own eyes. Even in a small place like Qinghe County, the only ones that could enter the city mounted on their steeds were the cavalries and soldiers of the Great Han Empire that were on duty, or the messengers of the authorities. Commoners were required to unmount from their steeds whenever they were passing through the city gates. Sometimes, the ones who had a lot of baggage with them would also have to be examined. So how could these Shatu people display such arrogance in the prefectural city of Pingxi Prefecture?

The most ridiculous part was that Yan Liqiang and the other Chinese people around him had to pay an entrance fee to enter the city. Yet these Shatu people had not only entered the city without paying, they were also given special treatment.

Even Yan Liqiang was under a wrong impression at this very moment as he watched these foreigners who had so swaggeringly entered the city on their steeds. He felt as if he wasn’t at Pingxi City of the Pingxi Prefecture. Instead, he felt like an outsider who was trying to enter the city of the Shatu people. How could he, as a Chinese, actually be deranked to a third-rate citizen on Chinese territory in front of these foreigners?

What kind of logic was this?

“Traitors that bring calamity to the country, traitors that bring calamity to the country...” An old man in front of Yan Liqiang also shook his head and sighed as he watched the Shatu enter the city on their rhinodrake steeds and camels without paying the entrance fee.

Just somewhere about four or five meters ahead of Yan Liqiang, a youth that seemed to be about twenty years old going into the city was glaring at those Shatu people who were riding on their camels and rhinodrake steeds. “Ptooey!” He spat on the ground in rage.

One of the bearded Shatu people on his rhinodrake steed happened to be passing by right in front of that youth. When he saw the scene, he raised the whip in his hand without any second thoughts and cracked it in the direction of that youth.

A cracking noise rang out, along with the blood-curdling scream from that youth. A deep welt was left on his face in just a split second and he was knocked to the floor from being lashed by that whip.

Just when that Shatu man who was riding on his rhinodrake steed was about to raise and crack his whip again, Yan Liqiang quickly moved and rushed to the side of that rhinodrake steed that the Shatu man was riding on. He reached out and grabbed a hold of the whip on the man’s hand.

That Shatu man forcefully jerked his hand back. When he realized that the whip in Yan Liqiang’s grasp didn’t budge an inch, his face couldn’t help but contort with rage. With one finger pointing towards Yan Liqiang, he instantly yelled in a language that sounded like gibberish. He then reached out for the scimitar that he had on him.

When Yan Liqiang saw this Shatu man was actually going to reach for his weapon, he jerked his hand forcefully without thinking any further. In just a split second, that Shatu man was dragged off his steed and he fell to the ground. His grip on the whip was instantly loosened as well.

The Shatu man who fell to the ground was also extremely agile. As soon as he fell off, he immediately unsheathed his scimitar and then got up with a roll. He then dashed towards Yan Liqiang with a loud yell.

Yan Liqiang’s gaze turned icy. At the wave of his hand, the whip’s shadow flashed in the air.

CRACK!! A cracking noise thundered.

“AHHHHHH!!!” That Shatu man let out a blood-curdling screech and instantly collapsed back onto the ground with his hands covering his face. Fresh blood seeped through his fingertips. He wanted to get up again, but Yan Liqiang instantly and fiercely whipped his body again for the second time. The clothes that the Shatu man was wearing were immediately ripped apart all the way from his shoulder to his chest. His skin was torn, revealing a bloody and brutal lash mark on his skin...

From the moment the Chinese youth was knocked down by the Shatu rider’s whip to the point where Yan Liqiang rushed to snatch the whip and lash that Shatu man in retaliation, the entire process happened in the space of merely two breaths.

Regardless of the commoners who were queueing up to enter the town in the surroundings or the Shatu people that were at the side, by the time they managed to process what had just taken place, Yan Liqiang had already whipped that Shatu man down.

However, at this time, the difference between those with group and without group was evident.

The commoners lining up at the entrance gate were getting a kick out of the whole incident. Before they could even cheer, the countenance of the two riders in front and behind Yan Liqiang on their rhinodrake steeds became contorted. With an odd yell, they immediately unsheathed their scimitars. One of them rushed forward while the other turned his steed around. Both of them charged towards Yan Liqiang.

The sounds of the iron hoofs thundered from within the tunnel of Pingxi Town’s entrance gate, abruptly causing panic among many of the commoners. They were shrieking, and the soldiers standing guard at the town gate were also alarmed.

At that moment, Yan Liqiang didn’t know that fighting with the Shatu people at the town entrance would imply anything at all. He was only trying to defend the weak at the sight of injustice. As for those Shatu people who had unsheathed their scimitars and were charging towards Yan Liqiang, they were so used to being arrogant every day that they didn’t expect that drawing their weapons and causing chaos would lead to serious consequences either.

As fate would have it, a seemingly inadvertent conflict like this would more often than not silently have a great impact in the future.

Swooosh! The Shatu man’s scimitar narrowly brushed past the top of Yan Liqiang’s head.

In this short and narrow tunnel that was not enough for a rhinodrake steed to run in, Yan Liqiang easily evaded the first strike that the Shatu man attempted although the man had borrowed the advantage of his rhinodrake steed’s speed and momentum. Without waiting for that man and his steed to turn around, Yan Liqiang had already flung the whip in his hand.

The shadow of the whip broke past the air. Before it lashed the body of that Shatu man, a noise that was akin to fabric being ripped could be heard in the air. Yan Liqiang had never practiced any whip techniques. He had only used a whip to spin a spinning top when he was little. However, the force he had unleashed with this lash was already beyond imagination. Yan Liqiang had only exerted sixty percent of his strength in the previous two lashes. When the Shatu man lunged for his throat with his scimitar just now, Yan Liqiang didn’t hold anything back at all. Hence, he went all out in this lash.

Pa...! When the cracking noise rang out, that Shatu man howled in pain as if he had just been hacked by someone by a saber. He immediately fell head first off his steed and collapsed in a heap on the ground. From behind, a terrifying lash mark about one foot long immediately emerged from on the back of that Shatu man’s ear, running all the way to his back. His ear was instantly mangled by the whip, leaving only a little skin and flesh still intact on his head.

The third Shatu man charged towards Yan Liqiang on his rhinodrake steed with a sinister expression. Yan Liqiang ran five steps up the wall of the town gate’s tunnel, raising himself up in the air before he did a backflip and lashed out with his whip. That Shatu man screamed miserably when Yan Liqiang whipped him one more time on his face, and then the man fell off his horse. Before this Shatu man could get up again, Yan Liqiang had already taken a big stride forward. He stopped before him and connected his foot with the Shatu man’s jaw. That Shatu man was sent flying high up in the air by Yan Liqiang’s kick, accompanied by the sound of broken bone, before he heavily landed back on the ground.

Now, more Shatu people from the front and the rear of this group were in an uproar. Yan Liqiang also heard the sharp noise from the metal whistle from one of the guards at the entrance gate.

The first Shatu man who had just been whipped twice by Yan Liqiang had already drawn his scimitar. He charged towards Yan Liqiang with his bloodstained face. He raised his arms high up, as he was aiming for Yan Liqiang’s throat.

These Shatu people were ruthless in their attacks. They didn’t show any mercy at all. Each one of their strikes was directed at the vital parts of a human body. Anger flashed across Yan Liqiang’s eyes when he saw how ungrateful these Shatu people were, for not retreating but advancing instead. When this Shatu man raised the scimitar in his hand, before he hacked down, Yan Liqiang had already rushed in front of him and he grabbed his wrist. Next, he unleashed one of the attacks from Tiger Roaring Consecutive Fist technique, Vicious Tiger Crossing Mountains. He turned his body around, twisting that man’s arm by ninety degrees and then beautifully threw that Shatu man over his shoulder. When the man landed heavily on the ground, Yan Liqiang held his arm up and placed his foot on his elbow. With an audible snap, the Shatu man’s elbow was instantly broken, leaving his bone exposed in the air.

In just a split moment, all three Shatu people had already knocked down by Yan Liqiang. Two of them had already been knocked out cold and the other one didn’t get up for a very long time.

All of a sudden, Yan Liqiang felt goosebumps on his back. He sensed a piercing chill and a wave of killing intent from afar. Without a second thought, he did a somersault and hid behind a group of rhinodrake steeds before he gazed into the distance.

A Shatu man outside the town gate had taken out his bow, nocked an arrow, and was targeting him. The bow was already half drawn...

Swoooosh... An arrow flew out of nowhere and directly pierced the Shatu man who had his bow and arrow out knocking him off from his horse with just a single arrow, causing that arrow of the Shatu man to miss...

“MOTHERF*CKERS!” A loud curse erupted from above the town gate. “All of you listen up, regardless of who you are, get off your damn steeds within the count of ten and drop all your weapons. Brothers, execute anyone who still has weapon after the countdown. I have your back if anything happens!”

As soon as the voice died down, synchronous footsteps and the clanking of armors rang out at the same time from the front and back of the town gate. A few hundred fully armed soldiers with spears charged down from the gate tower, fully surrounding all the Shatu people that were trapped within the town gate, including Yan Liqiang and the group of people who were waiting to get into town.

Some among the group of Shatu people let out a few yells. Soon after that, all the Shatu people dismounted from their steeds and camels. Every single one of them had a furious look on their faces and were grumbling. Even so, they still laid the weapons they carried on them like their scimitars, swords, and bows on the ground.

Seeing the large group of soldiers that had rushed to the town gate, Yan Liqiang naturally tossed the whip he was holding onto the ground. He then hurriedly retreated to a side with an innocent look on his face.

A black-faced commandant with a powerful body, a pair of thick eyebrows, fully dressed in armor and a helmet descended from the gate tower with a battle bow while swearing. “Xu Changshou, who blew the whistle just now? What is going on here?”

One the soldiers guarding the gate hurriedly went over and reported with a loud voice. “Reporting to Commandant Su. These Shatu people had a conflict with someone and started fighting just now. The Shatu people brandished their weapons within the town gate and caused a chaos, causing traffic at the town gate. I only acted according to the rules of guarding the town and blew the whistle...”

The soldier named Xu Changshou was speaking while pointing towards Yan Liqiang. That commandant with a darkened face also glanced in the direction he was pointing at...

“You are the one who beat up all these people on the ground?” The commandant came over. When he looked at the three Shatu people lying on the ground, an amazed look flashed across his eyes before he looked at Yan Liqiang. After sizing him up from top to bottom, the tone of his voice was somewhat uncertain.

Indeed it was him. No one would believe a delicate youth of about fourteen or fifteen years old like Yan Liqiang to be capable of knocking these three powerful-looking Shatu men off their rhinodrake steeds in just a flash if they didn’t see it with their own eyes. On top of that, those few Shatu men were armed with weapons.

Yan Liqiang was acting as innocent as a baby at this moment, putting up a harmless facade. He only nodded when he heard the commandant’s question. “That’s right. I did that!”

“Why did you do that?”

“I saw them bully my fellow Chinese here. Therefore, at the sight of such injustice, I came to their defense!” Yan Liqiang replied calmly.

“Just what is going on here?” The expression of that black-faced commandant turned even darker, even his voice also deepened.

“Reporting sir, right after that Shatu man passed through the town gate, he suddenly lashed a young man standing by the side to the ground with his whip without any warning. Despite seeing that the young man had been injured, that Shatu man still continued lashing him. That was when this young hero ran up to him and immediately pulled the Shatu man off his horse and got into a fight with him. When the other two Shatu men saw this, they surrounded him and attacked him with their weapons here. I only lost my head when I saw these Shatu men brandishing their weapons here...”

The elderly man who lined up beside Yan Liqiang just now stepped forward on his own accord and gave an account of the incident with a clear summary. After he finished speaking, he gave Yan Liqiang a look of approval.

“That’s right. That’s what happened. All of us can testify to that...”

Everyone in surroundings started talking all at once. The youth who had just been whipped by one of the Shatu men on his face also stepped forward and rained curses on those Shatu men who were lying on the ground. Speaking of the scene that had just happened earlier, everyone in the area was extremely indignant.

At this time, someone who was not too far from the town entrance among the band of Shatu people suddenly yelled in Mandarin. “Let me through, I’m the leader of this caravan. Just what are the Pingxi City’s sentries thinking? Are you thinking of robbing the goods of our caravan in broad daylight?”

The black-faced commandant threw a single glance in that direction with a slight frown. “Let that person through!”

The soldiers standing guard at the town entrance stepped aside. A Shatu man that was more than fifty years old was making his way over there in big strides. He had a huge aquiline nose, grizzled hair, and a pair of sharp eyes. He wore a gorgeous Shatu hat, and his appearance stood out from that of the other Shatu people. After he came over, he assessed the injuries of those Shatu men who were on the ground before the expression on his face became twisted. He lifted one of the Shatu men who was still groaning on the floor, the very same one who had lost half of his ear to Yan Liqiang’s whip, and loudly asked him a few questions. He then suddenly shifted his sullen gaze on Yan Liqiang’s face.

“Your Excellency, our men were injured by this person! I request you all to immediately seize him and let us punish him with the way of the Shatu people!” The leader of the Shatu people pointed at Yan Liqiang with his finger and loudly exclaimed this with an overbearingly arrogant tone of voice.

As soon as the black-faced commandant heard his words, he was instantly furious. “MOTHERF*CKER! Why didn’t you ask him why he had beaten the sh*t out of your people? It was your people who injured the commoner who was entering the town first! This youth only raised his hand because he couldn’t stand watching it any longer!”

“Our people whipped that person because he spat on us. This is an insult to us, the Shatu people!” That Shatu man continued to speak loudly.

“I... Puiii...” That black-faced commandant threw the Shatu leader a glance, inhaled through his nose, and then directly spat out concentrated phlegm that landed on the ground right before the Shatu man’s feet. “This is Pingxi City, Chinese territory. We will spit however we want to spit. What has it got to do with you as long as we didn’t spit on you? Your father, I just spat. So how is it going to be? You guys wanna whip me too?”

The Shatu man’s countenance instantly twisted before he spoke with a sinister voice. “Don’t think you can just simply bully us who are from the Shatu Seven Tribes. If anything happens to us here, the hundred thousand people from our town will not respond well to that. If something bad really happens, can a mere commandant like you take such responsibility?”

Shatu leader’s words allowed Yan Liqiang to once again experience the so-called logic of gangster. To a gangster, if he couldn’t bully you, then it meant that you had bullied him. What f*cking logic...

Shatu Seven Tribes was a somewhat unfamiliar name to Yan Liqiang. He vaguely recalled hearing Yan Dechang mention it once in the past. But he didn’t know anything about it in detail. In the past, his entire life was filled with nothing but cultivation. Therefore, he had very little knowledge of other miscellaneous information. So right now, nothing came up no matter how hard he racked his brain. He only recalled that they were probably part of the Shatu people who had taken up residence at the inner Great Han Empire.

“Your father, I, would really love to take that responsibility today!” That black-faced commandant glared at the Shatu man as he flew into a rage. “If you Shatu people don’t respond well to it then it is the same for me! According to the laws of our Great Han Empire, weapons are prohibited fifty meters within the radius of every town gate and mountain pass. Any violators will be considered to be inciting a revolt and will be punished accordingly as the most severe case. Brothers, round up all these Shatu people and lock them up in the military barracks. Kill anyone who dares to put up any resistance!”

“YES SIR!” The surrounding hundred soldiers responded loudly and thumped the ends of their long spears they were holding into the ground. When all of them closed in on those Shatu men, two of them seemed to be thinking about resisting. Just when they were about to move, a few long spears jabbed towards them, directly hitting their thighs. Both of them fell to the ground with blood-curdling screams. A few soldiers in the surroundings instantly swarmed around them and quickly tied both Shatu men up.

All the Shatu people were tied up in an instant, including their leader. Even their all rhinodrake steeds and camels were detained in custody at a military barrack near the gate tower.

At the same time, Yan Liqiang, the Chinese youth who was whipped, and a few witnesses were also brought inside the military barracks by these soldiers. Compared to the Shatu people, the soldiers who led them to the military barracks treated them a lot better.

After arriving at the military barracks, Yan Liqiang was inquired for his identity, name, reason for visiting Pingxi City, and also an account of the incident from someone else. Yan Liqiang’s statement was recorded on paper so he gave all the facts. At the end, after seeing that the statement had no problems, he also signed the paper and put a thumbprint on it.

After settling everything, he was locked up all alone in a small room by those soldiers.

...

“Damn it, those Shatu dogs are really asking for trouble!” The commandant scanned those Shatu men whose upper bodies had been bound with their arms tied behind their backs along with a rope looped around their necks for a while before he left the field with his other few subordinates, cussing. “We will settle this ourselves so that even when town governor inquires about this, we can stand our ground. Ensure that the statements of those commoners are properly recorded as witnesses, especially the one that had been bullied by the Shatu. Make him insist that all he did was simply spit on the ground when he was going into town before those Shatu people created trouble out of the blue and were the first to hit anyone.”

“Captain, rest assured, I have already sent someone to settle this. There will definitely not be any slip-ups...” One of the low ranking military officers immediately assured him.

“Alright!”

The other low-ranking military officer exclaimed in anger, “These Shatu dogs actually dared to draw their weapons at the town gate. Are they not afraid that we would treat them all as enemies and kill them? I’m so angry when I think of it. It’s clear that they are ignoring our existence! If Captain gave us an order that time, I would definitely be the first to run up and kill those Shatu dogs!”

“Oh right, that youth named Yan Liqiang is quite good for his young age. He was able to fight three of them alone and even made a prompt decision to be ruthless to those Shatu people. In my opinion, I think he is an extraordinary youth. Have you gotten to the bottom of his identity?”

“I did just now! That Yan Liqiang was the first among the top three in the Qinghe’s Martial Arts County Trial this year. He happened to come to Pingxi City today to report to Pingxi City’s martial arts academy tomorrow!”

“No wonder!” Realization dawned upon the group of military officers in the surroundings.

“Don’t miss out on that Yan Liqiang. A capable youth with such valor is really a rare sight. If this youth joins the army in the future, he will definitely be a great fighter!”

“Yes, rest assured, Captain. We know what to do!”

While they were talking, a low ranking military officer hurriedly ran over. He even seemed to be slightly flustered. “Captain, we have just checked the goods that those Shatu people were transporting according to your orders. There are some problems with them...”

Commandant Su’s countenance slightly changed as soon as he heard the report before he hurriedly went to investigate, bringing the other officers with him.

At the military barracks, all the boxes, burlap sacks, and the like carried by the Shatu people’s camels had been removed. Among all the things, two of the boxes and burlap sacks had already been opened. Outside those two boxes were a few stacks of dried medicinal ingredients and beneath those medicinal ingredients was a bundle of blades and swords, wrapped with hay. The weapons were gleaming coldly, exuding a chilling, sharp aura.

Those two burlap sacks had also been cut open. There were some beast leathers outside the burlap sacks. However, wrapped within those beast leathers were bundles of arrows.

Just what were these Shatu people trying to do by secretly hiding these weapons among the medicinal ingredients and transporting them into town?

All the military officers on the scene were shocked. There was absolute silence.

The facial expression of that black-faced commandant really went dark this time. He stared at the arrows in the burlap sacks. Without saying a word, he walked in front of them and retrieved one of the arrows inside. He held it up and carefully studied it.

“Wang San, bring me one of your arrows from your quiver...”

That low ranking military officer hurriedly handed over an arrow from the quiver that he was carrying on his back. The two arrows were put together. Both of them were exactly the same, regardless of the workmanship or materials. However, there was only one difference between them.

The base of the metal arrowhead of the arrow from the military officer named Wang San had a special triangular symbol on it. Within that symbol was a Chinese character, ‘Gan’, that could be seen by the naked eye. Beside the ‘Gan’ character was a tiny number, ‘37’. This was an indicator that this arrow was a military weapon manufactured by Qigu Mountain Weaponsmiths Quarter of the Gan Province, specially supplied to the Gan Province army of the Great Han Empire. Its quality was definitely reliable. If anything were to happen to it on the battlefield, they could hold the blacksmith who had manufactured the arrows accountable.

On the other hand, the same spot on the tail section of the arrows’ metal arrowheads found within the burlap sacks of those Shatu people had been deliberately smoothened out with a file to cover up a symbol that was supposedly located there before...

The Shatu people had hidden too many arrows among the goods. Not every arrow could possibly look exactly the same on this same spot. So the commandant searched for a while with a sour face among the bundles of arrows before he finally found an arrow. The symbol on the base of that arrowhead had already been half-smoothed out. Even so, the character ‘Gan’ could still be vaguely seen...

The atmosphere around the commandant as well as everyone around him instantly turned coldly silent as a wave of anger that could hardly be concealed and dismay brought upon by disappointment washed over them...

Yan Liqiang was locked up in one of the small rooms in the military barracks. There were two soldiers standing guard outside the room. He initially thought that he would be allowed to leave as soon as they were done taking his statement since that shouldn’t have been a really big deal. Besides, it was those Shatu people who had rudely started the incident. He could justify his own actions with a clear conscience. But he didn’t expect that no one would come to visit him until nightfall; neither did they inform him of when he could leave. He tried to inquire the two soldiers, but they didn’t know either and told him that he’d have to wait for their superior’s orders.

Apart from going to the toilet accompanied by the two soldiers, he had to stay in the room for the rest of the time. He wasn’t allowed to go anywhere else.

The two soldiers were standing guard by the door. Out of extreme boredom, Yan Liqiang started resuming his cultivation on the Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing.

Besides, this technique didn’t require any special place to cultivate, just a square meter of space would suffice. During the fight with those few Shatu men, Yan Liqiang had once again felt how formidable the Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing was. He had been cultivating it consecutively for two months. Not only did his strength increase significantly, even his reaction speed had improved drastically. Most importantly, he had already attained the realm of the second layer for that secret manual, the ‘Nine Palace Wind Shadow Steps’, that Qian Su had given to him before he even realized it. The body technique and footwork that he exhibited when running up the inner walls of the town gate earlier during the fight was from this ‘Nine Palace Wind Shadow Steps’ that had been leveled to the realm of the second layer. If he could attain the next layer, then the Dharmic projection of this secret manual’s technique should emerge.

Over the past few decades, Qian Su had only managed to cultivate the ‘Nine Palace Wind Shadow Steps’ to the realm of the second layer, whereas Yan Liqiang managed to achieve this point in just two months. Even Yan Liqiang himself thought that his cultivation speed was faster than expected. Although Qian Su never passed the Horse Stance stage which would be a little more challenging for him to cultivate this footwork, Yan Liqiang’s speed was still too shocking considering the fact that he had passed the Horse Stance stage. After pondering about it for some time, he concluded that this was probably the miraculous result brought about by cultivating the Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing.

Having understood till this point, Yan Liqiang put in all his effort whenever he cultivated the Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing.

Apart from the ‘Nine Palace Wind Shadow Steps’, the technique that Yan Liqiang desired to cultivate the most right now was still that ‘The Golden Bell Divine Protection Technique’ which he found on King Cobra. ‘The Golden Bell Divine Protection Technique’ was basically the Golden Bell Shield technique that was described in the secret manual. However, according to the secret manual, one would need to pass the Stretching Tendon and Extending Bone stage before they could cultivate the Golden Bell Shield Technique.

Over the past two months, Yan Liqiang had been feeling gradual extension and expansion of the tendons and bones in his body. His body was also becoming more agile. He reckoned that he could probably pass the Stretching Tendon and Extending Bone stage very soon.

The two soldiers politely served him his dinner. His dinner consisted of rice, some meat, vegetables. and two apples. The food was quite decent, so Yan Liqiang didn’t feel shy either. He finished his meal along with the apples and then started walking around the room in circles so that he could digest better. After half an hour of exercise, he started to cultivate Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing again...

When he started the Fixed Body Diagrams in the Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing this time around, loud chaotic noises from outside the military barracks suddenly reached his ears. He opened his eyes and stopped in his cultivation. Then he walked towards a window in his room. When he tried to catch a glimpse outside, he saw a sea of red lights that seemed like swaying flames on the other side of the perimeter wall. The source of the noises he heard also came from the other side of the perimeter wall. In the midst of those noises, he could make out some loathsome Shatu language that sounded like gibberish.

The noises grew even louder. From the sounds of it, there were at least ten thousand people.

At this time, he could hear urgent footsteps coming towards the door.

“Corporal, what is going on outside?” He heard a voice from the other side of the door. Yan Liqiang recognized this voice. The person who had spoken was one of the soldiers who had been guarding him.

“The Shatu people have come to create a disturbance! One of you stay here and stand guard. Zhao Feng, follow me! Bring your trusty weapon along. Xu Chun, you will take care of things here and act according to the circumstances!”

“Understood!”

Two sets of footsteps left in haste.

“RELEASE! RELEASE!”

The noises and clamor outside the military barracks slowly unified, turning into two words that even Yan Liqiang could comprehend.

However, after half a minute, the door to his room was unlocked and opened from the other side with a creak. The soldier guarding the door pushed it open and came in. He looked at Yan Liqiang with a grave expression on his face. “If things get chaotic later, someone barged in and I couldn’t watch over you. You may leave this place yourself. You’ll also have to protect yourself!”

“Alright. Thank you, Brother Xu!”

“How do you know my surname is Xu?” That soldier was slightly taken aback.

“I overheard the Corporal ask Brother Xu to stay here just now from inside...” Yan Liqiang laughed. Remembering someone’s name was totally the basic of the most basic things required in his line of work back in his previous life. This was because it had subtle psychological effects that could bring a stranger closer to one in the quickest way.

“Oh, so that’s why!” Xu Chun’s facial expression instantly relaxed. He looked at Yan Liqiang. “Do you need any weapons? I can go find one for you so you can protect yourself.”

“Thank you, Brother Xu. I have a knife in my bag. I will take it out when it is needed!” Yan Liqiang pointed at his own bag. There was a kukri knife that was forged in the blacksmith store back home in his bag, sheathed in a cowhide scabbard. He would naturally take it out in times of need. The people in this military barrack had been very kind to him. After he came in, they didn’t make things difficult for him and they didn’t even inspect his bag.

“Glad to hear that...”

...

At this moment, the voices of the Shatu people gathered at the main entrance of the military barracks were extremely loud. A few of the streets outside the military barracks were filled with the torches that the Shatu people were holding, swaying in the air. All the stores had already closed out of fear. There was no one else other than the Shatu people out on the main street. At a single glance, the estimated number of Shatu people who had gathered outside the military barracks was at least over ten thousand.

A few rows of soldiers fully donned in armor and weapons were already standing at the main entrance of the military barracks, facing the swarm of Shatu people who were bellowing agitatedly from more than ten meters away.

The Shatu had lined themselves up into a human wall, yelling for the release of their people while they pressed on towards the military barracks.

Lining up at the front of the Shatu party were some old, frail women and young children. Each and every one of them was extremely worked up as they were pointing and shouting at the soldiers in the military barracks with uncontrollable anger. They weren’t holding any weapons but they were pressing on to the military barracks with their chins up and chests out. Behind these old people were the young and strong Shatu people. The icy gleam of their weapons flashed from the crowd from time to time.

The black-faced commandant stood at the entrance of the military barracks while watching these Shatu people. A cold light flashed across his eyes. “Damn these f*ckers. Your father, I, am not buying any of this today. If worse comes to worst, I will just take off my armor and go back home to open a martial arts academy...” The black-faced commandant cursed a few times and then flung the helmet he wore on his head to the floor. He drew his sword and gave his order in a loud voice. “SOLDIERS! This Pingxi Town is still the Pingxi Town that consists of us, the Chinese, and the Great Han Empire! Kill anyone who dares to take a step inside my barracks today and has the balls to fight us, regardless of who it may be! I, Su Tianhao, shall bear all the responsibilities alone! Everyone, follow my command... HOLD YOUR SPEAR... AND STEP OUT!!!”

“AYE!” All the soldiers responded loudly as they immediately straightened their spears in their hands and took a loud step forward. Their awe-inspiring aura and the icy gleams of their spearheads instantly halted the Shatu people who were pressing on to the military barracks in their tracks as they were afraid to come any closer to them.

Upon seeing those Shatu people stopping in their tracks and only shouting, the black-faced commandant waved his hand at a squad commander beside him. When that officer came over, he gave his order in a soft voice. “Go check on the Shatu people we captured earlier today. If any of these Shatu people here dare to attack the military barracks later, kill them if any of us dies here, whether it is only one person or one hundred people. Have all our brothers kill every single one of the Shatu people we have tied up...”

“Understood...” That squad commander accepted his order, turned around, and quickly left the military barrack’s main entrance.

A military officer at the side leaned his head over and asked in a soft voice, “Sir, news has already traveled to the city governor and he’s already looking for the military governor. How come we haven’t heard anything from the higher-ups until now?”

“Goddamn it, how am I supposed to know? Let’s just focus on what’s going on here first...”

...

Meanwhile, two high ranking officers in Pingxi City, the Military Governor Huangfu Qianqi from the Military Governor’s Office of the Pingxi Prefecture and City Governor, Li Pingtao from the northern gate of Pingxi Town, were sitting on their chairs in one of the brightly lit halls of Pingxi Town’s Prefectural Governor’s Office, staring closely at the prefectural governor of Pingxi Prefecture who was seated behind his desk.

The tea on the table had already gone cold long ago. Although a full hour had passed, the prefectural governor of Pingxi Prefecture still had his head buried in the urgent report they had presented to him. He seemed to be carefully studying each and every word written on it, never lifting his head even once all this time.

The city governor, Li Pingtao, had already clenched and unclenched his fists about seven to eight times. Finally, he couldn’t take it anymore. He turned his head to the side and threw a single glance the other working military officer of Pingxi Prefecture who was sitting in front of him, Huangfu Qianqi.

“Ahem, ahem.” After restraining himself for another moment and seeing that the prefectural governor still showed no signs of lifting his head, Huangfu Qianqi, as a senior officer, finally couldn’t take it anymore either and slightly raised his voice. “Sir!”

The prefectural governor finally raised his head from the report he was reading, revealing his slightly swollen eyes. He rubbed his temple with one hand and threw a glance at the two high ranking officers among the Pingxi Prefecture standing there before he lightly tossed the report on the table. “So this is the urgent report that you spoke of? That a Shatu caravan had brought with them some weapons into town, and your subordinates went ahead and detained all of them in the military barracks? I also heard that some were injured?” There was displeasure in the tone of his voice.

“Sir, about this...”

“That’s enough.” The prefectural governor lifted his hand, cutting off Huangfu Qianqi’s explanation. “I know what you want to say General Huangfu, but don’t you think you are all a little too sensitive? Those arrows with the symbols erased may not mean anything. They just happen to look a little similar to the ones from the Gan Province Weaponsmiths Quarter. Whether or not they are manufactured there is another story. After all, there are quite a number of workshops that manufacture arrows among the people. Sometimes, for the sake of putting a higher price tag on the arrows that these private workshops manufactured, they would also carve the symbol of the Weaponsmiths Quarter to masquerade their products. There’s no need to make a fuss about this. I will report this incident to the Gan Province’s Military Governor’s Office so that they can investigate if any of their arrows are being smuggled out from the Weaponsmith Quarters. In our Great Han Empire, there have never been any laws that prohibit Shatu caravans from carrying weapons.”

At this moment, one of the Prefectural Governor’s Office’s servants hurriedly came over and softly whispered something into the prefectural governor’s ears. The expression on the prefectural governor’s face slightly changed. At the wave of his hand, that servant bowed and retreated.

“The Shatu people in town are causing another disturbance right now! I still need to settle this mess. All of you should quickly order that commandant to release the Shatu people he detained and return their goods to them. Compensate them and apologize to them accordingly. Pacify the people who had been injured by the Shatu people. It was only a lash, no big deal. Don’t let this problem get out of hand. The Provincial Governor will visit Pingxi City in two days, so don’t create any more problems for me. Alright, that’s it for now. I went to Rong County today for inspection and I’m quite tired...” The prefectural governor yawned upon finishing his sentence and immediately left, abandoning the two high-ranking officers in the middle of the big hall...

The ruckus outside of the military barracks went on for the whole night. However, from beginning to end, no orders to kill were heard. Things only calmed down after dawn.

Soon after that, Yan Liqiang saw a squad commander in the room. That officer first had him stay here for the night. He told him that it wasn’t safe for him to go out right now and that someone from the martial arts academy would come to pick him up tomorrow.

It wasn’t safe for him to go out right now? What did he mean?

Just when Yan Liqiang was still wondering about it, Xu Chun came in and secretly informed Yan Liqiang of some news.

“The people from the Shatu caravan have been released. When they were leaving, a few of them looked like they had some ulterior motives. I actually understand Shatu language, and a few of them were gathering information on you and said that they want to get even with you!”

“Those Shatu people beat someone up at the city entrance, brandished their weapons, and barged through the city gate. These alone were considered offenses. How could they be released this easily?” Yan Liqiang looked at Xu Chun in disbelief.

Xu Chun also had an indignant expression on his face. “I heard that the Prefectural Governor gave a direct order to prevent the Shatu people from causing trouble! The crowd of Shatu people who surrounded the outside only dispersed with the release of those people!”

Upon hearing this, Yan Liqiang wanted to curse out loud. Beating someone up at the city gate was the first crime that those Shatu people had committed. Brandishing their weapons and barging through city gate was their second crime. How could they actually let such serious offenses slide this easily? No wonder those Shatu people were this arrogant in Pingxi’s prefectural city.

After confirming that there was no one on either side, Xu Chun suddenly lowered his voice. “Brother, let me tell you something. Can you guess what we found among the goods of those Shatu people?”

“What did you guys discover?”

“They had actually hidden many weapons among their goods, and there were over ten thousand arrows...”

Yan Liqiang’s eyes widened immediately as he drew a sharp breath. Although transporting weapons such as bows and arrows were not illegal, the Shatu people were sneaky enough to hide them with their goods. They had to be up to no good since they were afraid to be discovered, and they probably had some sort of secret agenda behind this. “Even so, you all still released them?”

“It’s an order from higher-ups. We have to release them even if we don’t want to!”

“What about the weapons and arrows then?”

“We have returned them to the Shatu people too!” When Xu Chun saw Yan Liqiang’s countenance change once again when he was speaking, he gave him further explanation. “All these orders were from the Prefectural Governor. We have no choice either. However, before Commandant Su returned those goods to the Shatu people, he had our brothers in the barrack break all those arrows and also chip all the blades and swords...”

Yan Liqiang took a deep breath and slowly calmed down. “Thank you for telling me all this, Brother Xu...”

“No need to thank me. All our brothers in the barrack admire you quite a bit. If you hadn’t served them justice today at the city entrance, we would have had no idea just how ruthless these Shatu people can be. If Brother Liqiang is still going to stay at the Pingxi Prefecture martial arts academy after today, please be cautious of the Shatu people in Pingxi City. There are more than ten thousand of them here. They are rude, unreasonable, overbearing, cunning and ruthless people who are capable of doing just anything. You have really given those few Shatu people a beating today and two of them might be left handicapped. Maybe those Shatu people might really try to get even with you...”

“Alright, I will be mindful!”

“Alright, rest earlier today, Brother Liqiang. You can just lock the door from the inside when you sleep at night. There are toiletries in the room, use anything you need. I’ll be sleeping next door. You can call me if you need anything.”

“Sure!”

After Xu Chun left, Yan Liqiang paced around the room alone. Although his face was cool like steel, anger was brewing in his heart. However, his heart was colder than ice.

Yan Liqiang was fully aware that he had gotten himself into big trouble. Even if he was given another chance to reconsider his choices at this point in time, he would still choose to run up to those few Shatu people and teach them a lesson.

In his previous life, he had never practiced any martial arts. Even so, he had never been terrified of anything. There was one time when he was on his way home from work when he saw a few hoodlums ganging up on a lady on the roadside. After calling the police, he picked up a brick and went up against them. The price he paid for his first courageous act was a gash by a dagger on his left arm. Despite getting twenty-seven stitches, he had no regrets.

In this life, if he didn’t dare to go up against those Shatu people back then after practicing so many years of martial arts and instead was terrified instead of getting into trouble, then wouldn’t the martial arts he practiced turn out to be a joke?

The reason behind Yan Liqiang’s anger and disappointment wasn’t the plotted revenge from the Shatu. He just didn’t expect that they would be able to escape their punishment so easily after violating the offenses of beating someone and barging through the city gate, causing panic in Pingxi City. Other than taking a beating from him and the arrow that the commandant had released, those Shatu people didn’t really seem to bear any other consequences.

Just what the hell happened? Were the Shatu people were actually a cut above the rest? The Chinese had actually become third-rate citizens instead and were being bullied on their own land?

Perhaps it was because of this that the Shatu people had become fearless and were confident enough to be hooting about getting even with him. If he was an ordinary person without any real skills, he would probably have to reconsider living in Pingxi City in the future.

It would be a complete lie if Yan Liqiang could still remain cool-headed and calm at a time like this. At this moment, he felt as if he was on a grassy plain with countless alpacas jumping over his head.

After pacing a few rounds in the room, Yan Liqiang stood still and lifted his head, staring at the ceiling. The expression on his face became determined. A cold light flashed across his eyes as he muttered to himself. “Bring it on. Let’s see who can put an end to this. F*ckers...”

...

The rest of the night passed by uneventfully. The next morning, Yan Liqiang got up on time as usual before the sun was even up. After washing up, he practiced a round of Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing. Just when he finished the first round and was about to open the door, there was a series of knocks on the door to his room.

Yan Liqiang opened the door but was instantly in for a great shock. That was because the person standing on the other side of the door was someone he had least expected – Shi Changfeng.

“Lord Shi, what brings you here?”

“So it really is you!” Shi Changfeng was fully dressed in white, looking graceful and casual. When he saw Yan Liqiang, he carefully looked at him from top to bottom. Upon seeing Yan Liqiang with no injuries or any damage on his body, and his face radiating with vigor on top of that, Shi Changfeng let out a breath of relief. He then turned his head to the side and spoke to that black-faced commandant who had accompanied him here. “There’s no mistake about it. This person is indeed the newly recruited student of our martial arts academy this year from Qinghe County, Yan Liqiang...”

Commandant Su nodded and replied with his deep and gruff voice. “If there’s no mistake, then I shall hand him over to you. There’s still a few Shatu dogs loitering around outside the military barracks who are unwilling to give up. This young man is not bad, he is worthy to be nurtured. There will be no problems if you are the one to bring him out. Blast it, if it weren’t for this uniform I am wearing, I would really love to strangle those few Shatu dogs to their deaths!”

“Don’t worry about it!” Shi Changfeng nodded then turned to Yan Liqiang. “Pack up your belongings and follow me!”

Yan Liqiang didn’t say too much either. He immediately returned to his room and carried his bag on his back. Then climbed up a horse carriage along with Shi Changfeng, leaving the military barracks...

By this time, the sky had just only slightly brightened...

The carriage was still a two-wheeled horse carriage. The only difference was that Shi Changfeng’s two-wheeled horse carriage was more spacious than the one Yan Liqiang sat in previously. The arrangement inside the horse carriage was meticulously selected. There was even an incense lit within the horse carriage, emitting a dense fragrance which permeated the fragrance of sandalwood throughout the entire carriage. When people smelled it, their minds would be cleared in an instant.

“Ride...” The coachman sat in front of the carriage. He shook the reins and forcefully whipped the horse with the horsewhip. When they heard the loud crack from the horsewhip, the horse harnessed to the carriage broke into a faster gallop than before as they left the barracks.

At this time, Pingxi City seemed to have just woken up. The number of pedestrians on the street was few and far between while the stores hadn’t even opened yet. The horse carriage charged along the flat street in the city, without any worries of colliding into anyone.

It was uncertain as to whether it was due to the fact that he was in the carriage or they weren’t able to catch up to the carriage on foot, but Yan Liqiang did not see any Shatu people chasing the carriage.

In the midst of charging, the horse carriage rocked slightly so it wasn’t a smooth ride. This was probably a common problem with two-wheeled horse carriages. Yet Yan Liqiang had already figured what was going on the moment they left the barracks. It must be due to the fact that Commandant Su had sent personnel over to the martial arts academy and told them about him. Thus, the martial arts academy sent Shi Changfeng, whom he had met before, over at first light.

Today was originally the day he was to officially report himself to the Pingxi Prefecture Martial Arts Academy. Never did Yan Liqiang expect that he would actually be picked up by others.

Once he boarded the carriage, Yan Liqiang had this feeling that Shi Changfeng’s eyes had never left his body. He appeared slightly serious. This made Yan Liqiang mutter irresolutely and secretly deep down as he attempted to make a jab at Shi Changfeng’s current state of mind, wondering whether it was the same feeling the other Head Instructors felt who had gone out all the way to pick up other students?

“I know what happened yesterday!” Shi Changfeng stared at Yan Liqiang, opening his mouth to break the silence in the horse carriage. “Not bad. You did well. No wonder you placed first in the Qinghe County Martial Arts Examination and are a worthy student of our Pingxi Prefecture Martial Arts Academy!” Once he finished, a trace of a smile finally broke out on Shi Changfeng’s solemn countenance. Yan Liqiang also finally got to see a trace of admiration in Shi Changfeng’s eyes.

Yan Liqiang was more or less comforted to receive recognition from an academy tutor from the Pingxi Prefecture Martial Arts Academy. In this world, people had a natural sense of justice. “Thank you Lord Shi for your compliment. I only did what I needed to do!”

“Hahaha! From today onwards, you’re already considered a student at the Pingxi Prefecture Martial Arts Academy! So you don’t need to call me Lord Shi anymore. You should change your formalities. Just call me Teacher Shi...”

“Okay! Teacher Shi!” Yan Liqiang smiled. “I heard there are many courses in the martial arts academy. May I know what courses Teacher Shi teaching?”

“I’m responsible for the martial arts academy’s courses in sword art along with literature and history. Have you ever trained in sword art before?”

“I have never trained in sword art before but I have dabbled in some spear art, as well as the art of archery...” Yan Liqiang held his words back. His cultivation in the art of archery would be exposed one day, so he chose to slightly divulge the fact that he had trained in the art of archery to avoid others from being too surprised by it in the future. The Hong Clan’s incident had already become a thing of the past. Thus, his cultivation in the art of archery naturally didn’t need to be concealed perpetually...

“Oh, that’s good!” Shi Changfeng nodded. “Spear art and the art of archery are both the way of the battlefield. It would be extremely favorable for one to have these skills in the future. But sword art is also one of the martial practitioner’s Confucian Six Arts. It mustn’t be ignored in the favor of others. Once you master it, regardless of whether you’re traveling around the pugilist world or fighting in close-quarters on the battlefield, you can subdue the enemy in one move, incisive beyond measure!”

“Yes! I will definitely ask for guidance from Teacher Shi in the future!”

“Good!” Shi Changfeng nodded before abruptly asking a question. “Do you know that yesterday at the city gates, the moment you make a move, you are already in deep trouble? There’s a chance that the Shatu people might want to seek vengeance against you. Do you regret it?”

“I already fought them so what’s there to be regret? The only thing I regret is that if I knew firsthand that those Shatu men would be so vile, I would have struck out harder then!” Yan Liqiang replied while shaking his head. “It’s just that I don’t understand one thing and feel perturbed in my heart. I don’t know why those men were so arrogant and despotic in Pingxi City? They can ride horses into the city without paying tolls, and they can even escape the laws of committing crimes while causing disturbances in addition to hitting people? Is this Pingxi City still even our Chinese Pingxi City?”

“You’ve never heard of the Shatu Seven Tribes before?”

“I’m not afraid of Teacher Shi making fun of me. I focused all my attention in martial arts training before, and only heard of the Shatu Seven Tribes one time from my father back home. As for the details, I have no idea...” Yan Liqiang scratched his head as he replied awkwardly.

Shi Changfeng stared at Yan Liqiang for a few seconds before heaving a sigh of relief. He sighed, “No wonder you obtained first place in the Qinghe County’s martial arts examination. Turns out that you have spent all your efforts in training and paid no attention to outside matters...”

“I’m ashamed. I only realized that my knowledge is not up to par when I came out. Fortunately Teacher is here right now so it’s a good time for me to request guidance from you. May I know where the Shatu Seven Tribes come from?”

Shi Changfeng groaned for a while. “Eighty years ago, in order to vie over the Shatu Alliance’s Chanyu’s throne, a great civil war broke out between the Shatu tribes. The known Shatu Seven Tribes were the Shatu people’s tribes which consisted of the Dark Razor Tribe, the Dark Mountain Tribe, the Dark Wood Tribe, the Earthen Desert Tribe, the Coyote Tribe, the Stormy Plain Tribe, and the Stormy River Tribe. These seven tribes were defeated as well as the fortunate survivors during the Shatu Civil War. They were hunted by other victorious Shatu tribes. When they were at the end of their rope, the seven Shatu tribes brought along several million clan members to flee from calamity and they came to the border of our Great Han Empire. They expressed their willingness to submit to the Great Han Empire to become our empire’s subjects. They begged our empire to accept them. Due to this reason, the Shatu Seven Tribes existed within the borders of our Great Han Empire!”

Yan Liqiang was taken aback. He never realized that those overbearing, rude, unreasonable and tyrannical Shatu men were the descendants of the refugees who had escaped to the Great Han Empire. The contrast was too great.

“Since those Shatu men are refugees, they are no different than homeless curs. How can they still be so unbridled and are able to throw their weight about in Pingxi City?”

“This is what it meant by times have changed!” Lord Shi let out a sigh. “Back then when the Great Han Empire received the Shatu Seven Tribes, the empire permitted them to move to Mount Vast Cloud which lies in the common border between Gan Province and Feng Province as well as the Gulang Plains for settlement. The empire also offered a lot of assistance, hoping to make the Shatu people become a protective shield between us and the Black Ram tribe. Many years passed, and the Shatu Seven Tribes which only had several million men before now have a population that has expanded nearly tenfold. In addition, the man who highly supported accepting the Shatu Seven Tribes in the imperial court had already been the empire’s prime minister for a long time. That man treated the sheltered Shatu people as his own merits and achievements. A few years ago, he even issued the Writ of Grace, permitting the Shatu people within the Gan and Feng Provinces to enjoy preferential treatments such as minor offenses that would not be pursued, no tolls to enter the city, riding horses into the city, and such. As time went on, the Shatu Seven Tribes was already practicing insubordination and was dissatisfied with small gains. Thus, they began to seize the authorities and making noise, even to the extent of rebelling and vandalizing. And the upper echelons would side with the Shatu people every time during this time period. The situation in Pingxi City isn’t considered to be too serious yet. In some areas of Feng Province, the Shatu Seven Tribes territories are expanding day after day. In some rural counties, they are now completely under the rule of the Shatu people. Nobody dared to control them even when they committed a crime. The Chinese are instead being forced aside until they have nowhere else to stay. Quite a number of them have fled with their families in succession...”

“Those who are not our kin are sure to have different hearts. We are giving preferential treatment to another tribe as they suppress our own kin. With such a perverse way of doing things, enraging the people and the Heavens alike, wouldn’t great chaos brew in Feng Province and Gan Province sooner or later?” Yan Liqiang sharp inhaled a breath.

Upon hearing Yan Liqiang’s words, Shi Changfeng suddenly stared at him in astonishment as he was surprised beyond measure. “I never expected you to have such insight at a young age!”

This was also known as insight? Wasn’t it just common sense? Yan Liqiang almost blurted this out loud. However, the words that were about to left his mouth was then eventually forcefully swallowed by him back down....

It was at this moment that the horse carriage had arrived at a place, slowly coming to a stop. It was currently being interrogated at the main entrance...

“Teacher, is this the martial arts academy of Pingxi Prefecture?” Sitting inside the horse carriage, Yan Liqiang couldn’t tell from the scenery outside. In addition, it was his first time coming to Pingxi City so he was unfamiliar with the city itself. Thus, he naturally couldn’t tell where he was right now.

“This isn’t the martial arts academy. It’s the Pingxi Prefecture’s Military Governor’s Office. The military governor wishes to have an audience with you!”

Shi Changfeng’s words surprised Yan Liqiang once more...

The Military Governor’s Office of the Great Han Empire was no different than the military region of all levels in his previous incarnation. The Military Governor of the Military Governor’s Office was equivalent to the commanding officer of the military region of all levels. If Pingxi Prefecture was seen as a municipal unit, then the Military Governor’s Office of Pingxi Prefecture was similar to that of the commander of the municipal unit.

Under the Military Governor’s Office, there was a standing army division as well as a good deal amount of staff. Usually, the standing army under the Military Governor’s Office was responsible for undertaking various garrison duties. In turn, the Military Governor’s Office was responsible for filling in every position in the staff structure.

Similarly, the Military Governor’s Office was also under the administration of the Prefectural Governor. The Military Governor of a prefecture’s Military Governor’s Office had to take responsibility for the Prefectural Governor.

While Yan Liqiang was recalling the little knowledge he had about the Military Governor’s Office from his mind, he entered the Military Governor’s Office with Shi Changfeng. At the same time, he was wondering deep down the reason as to why the Military Governor of the Military Governor’s Office would want to meet a nobody like him.

The inner walls of the Military Governor’s Office had tight security,; it was a large manor with high walls. They were soldiers that were decked out in gear standing guard everywhere and those who passed by were all military officers of different ranks. A military officer brought Shi Changfeng and Yan Liqiang into one of the drawing rooms in the Military Governor’s Office, requesting them to wait in this area for a while. He didn’t even offer them tea and left immediately after that.

Two soldiers stood at the drawing room’s entrance. A majestic painting of a vicious tiger roaring in the mountain was suspended in the center of the drawing room. The main seat of the drawing room was vacant. The other furnishings were pithy, simple and plain, and had a strong military design to it. Yan Liqiang sat next to Shi Changfeng. While he was checking out the surroundings, he caught sight of the painting of a vicious tiger roaring in the mountain, and he naturally thought of the scenario in the Water Margin where Lin Chong was tricked to go to White Tiger Hall. He laughed at himself on the inside. A nobody like him wasn’t worthy of being handled by an esteemed Military Governor. He cautiously eyed Shi Changfeng’s expression and discovered that he didn’t appear grim, and he didn’t look like he was concerned either. Only then did Yan Liqiang feel a little bit at ease.

“Teacher, why does the Military Governor wish to see me?” Yan Liqiang whispered to Shi Changfeng upon observing that no one was around.

“Do you have any idea of the scale of the commotion that those Shatu men caused yesterday in Pingxi City?” Shi Changfeng shot a glance at Yan Liqiang with a smile on his face. “And it was rumored that the one who caused this was the person that placed first in the Qinghe County Martial Arts Examination. So the Military Governor naturally needs to see it for himself!”

Yan Liqiang laughed dryly and rubbed his face. “I am not that capable! I was just at the right place at the right time. I couldn’t turn my back away at the sight of injustice and I shouted. That’s all...”

“Hahaha! Such a good ‘couldn’t turn my back away at the sight of injustice and shouted’...” A loud, hearty laugh traveled from behind them. As soon as he finished, the Military Governor of the Pingxi Prefecture Military Governor’s Office, Huangfu Qianqi, had already taken large strides with a majestic gait into the drawing room.

Upon seeing Shi Changfeng stand up, Yan Liqiang also stood up in a flurry.

“Sit! Sit! Sit! Don’t be courteous! This is neither the field headquarters nor the Military Governor’s Office’s court of law. We will just be casually conversing today. There’s no need to be reserved...” Huangfu Qianqi smiled, requesting Shi Changfeng and Yan Liqiang to sit down. Then, he also sat himself down on the main seat.

After Yan Liqiang sat down, he stole a serious glance at the number one character in Pingxi Prefecture’s military forces, sizing him up and down. Huangfu Qianqi had a majestic figure – he was dressed in durable maroon armor with thin scales, and he wasn’t wearing a helmet. To someone who was successful in cultivation, it wasn’t easy to determine the exact age. However, he appeared as though he was around fifty. The two locks of hair on his temples were slightly white. He had tiger-like eyes and thick brows, looking very mighty and awe-inspiring. From his aura, the realm that Huangfu Qianqi was at was undoubtedly above Martial Master Shi Changfeng. It was just that he wasn’t entirely sure what grade was he in.

After sitting down, Huangfu Qianqi also sized Yan Liqiang up and down. Yan Liqiang’s fourteen-year-old and handsome appearance had slightly caught him by surprise. If he hadn’t seen him personally this time, Huangfu Qianqi would have never believed that a handsome young lad like him could crush those three Shatu men at the city gates. He heard that two out of the three had even been left crippled by him.

A trace of amazement flashed past Huangfu Qianqi’s eyes. “You’re Yan Liqiang? The one who stood up bravely and soundly beat up those Shatu men?”

“Liqiang pays his respects to the Military Governor!” Yan Liqiang stood once more and bowed to Huangfu Qianqi. He then said modestly, “The ones who genuinely subdued the Shatu people to the point that they could not budge yesterday were the respective soldiers and officers from the Northern gates. I only did what I needed to do!”

Yan Liqiang’s modesty caused another eruption of laughter from Huangfu Qianqi. He gestured Yan Liqiang to sit back down and asked happily, “I have to go to Qinghe County for at least one or two times annually to inspect the armaments in the county. At times, I will pass by it and rest for half a day. Where is your home located in Qinghe County? What does your father do for a living?”

“My home is situated at Liuhe Town in Qinghe County. Only my father and I stay there. My father is the town’s blacksmith by trade and we have some field properties back home. My father is also operating a blacksmith workshop!”

“Blacksmith! Not bad. Not bad. You come from a good family. If that’s the case, then do you know how to forge ironware?” the Military Governor asked with interest.

“I was inspired since my youth so I know a meager amount!” Yan Liqiang naturally wouldn’t know only that little. It could be said that whatever Yan Dechang knew, Yan Liqiang knew it well too. As for those special skills that Yan Dechang had yet to impart to his previous disciple, Yan Liqiang had already mastered them. The only difference was that Yan Liqiang’s experience was still lacking compared to Yan Dechang’s.

“Judging by your skills, you must at least have passed the Horse Stance stage?”

“I have in fact already passed the Horse Stance stage!”

“Good. But I fear that those who passed the Horse Stance stage might not even have the capability to win first place in Qinghe County’s Martial Arts Examination!” Huangfu Qianqi nodded. “May I know if you have passed the Stretching Tendon and Extending Bone stage?”

“I have yet to pass that stage!”

“Yesterday, those Shatu men said they will seek you to exact their revenge. May I know how you are planning to deal with it?”

Yan Liqiang lowered his gaze and calmly replied, “I will just deal with it when the time comes. I train diligently and unremittingly every single day without fail to move forward. Should those Shatu men dare to approach me, I will definitely kill them!”

Huangfu Qianqi stroked his beard as he narrowed his eyes at Yan Liqiang. The more he looked at him, the more satisfied he was with his demeanor. He muttered to himself irresolutely for two seconds before opening his mouth to speak. “Among the bodyguards by my side, I’m still lacking a man to run errands and feed the horses. I wonder if you’re willing to work as a military personnel by my side in the Military Governor’s Office? Yeah, you’re still young, so even if you’re my bodyguard, you cannot be considered a main soldier. You can only start from the lowest-ranked position of an auxiliary soldier first. Give it some consideration!”

Working as the bodyguard of the Military Governor?

Huangfu Qianqi’s suggestion abruptly gave Yan Liqiang the shock of his life. As the saying went, an official of the seventh rank would guard a prime minister’s door. How could the post of a bodyguard of a prefecture’s Military Governor be held by average men? The position itself was on the same level as a leading secretary. Although an auxiliary soldier was the lowest military rank, this was mainly because he hadn’t come of age yet. Thus, it was just a title. Having lived for two incarnations, if Yan Liqiang still couldn’t figure out that the Military Governor wished to promote and cultivate him at this time, then he had truly lived in vain for his entire two lives.

Yan Liqiang’s little heart was thumping loudly. He shifted his gaze to Shi Changfeng and discovered Shi Changfeng to be stunned by the revelation as well. He didn’t appear to expect that Huangfu Qianqi would directly request him to be his own bodyguard. “Teacher, this...”

Shi Changfeng understood what Yan Liqiang wanted to ask. He smiled. “You’re free within the martial arts academy. The students themselves manage their own times. You only have one lesson a week. Quite a number of the students from the martial arts academy have their own duties and livelihoods. A few of the military officers and commandants are the martial arts academy’s students in Pingxi City. You can attend one of my classes in literature and history every half month. If you have the ambition to serve in the army, I’m sure the Military Governor will not give you too many tasks to attend to so it wouldn’t affect your lessons at the martial arts academy.”

“I only have four bodyguards by my side now. They have already advanced on as Martial Warriors. If you’re willing, you are only required to come to my office every week to help me look after the steeds before you advance as a Martial Warrior. Nobody would dare to lay a hand on you once you are appointed as my bodyguard in Pingxi City. Should the Shatu men dare to provoke you or even exact their vengeance on you, feel free to let go and kill...”

Since the Military Governor had said so to this extent, if Yan Liqiang still declined the request, then that would truly give birth to the consequences of defying Heaven for not accepting it. Without hesitation, he immediately stood up and saluted while paying his respects to Huangfu Qianqi once more. “Yan Liqiang pays his respects to the Military Governor!”

Huangfu Qianqi burst out into a hearty laugh and beckoned towards the doorway immediately. A highly-capable young looking commandant instantly walked in, who was around thirty years old. Huangfu Qianqi directly pointed at Yan Liqiang as he told the commandant, “This is Yan Liqiang, a newly recruited bodyguard. His military rank will temporarily be assigned as an auxiliary soldier. Hongjie, bring him along to do the formalities and get an army token. After that, take him for a spin around the manor and enlighten him. He will still need to study at the martial arts academy in the future...”

Yan Liqiang was in a daze the entire time until he left the Military Governor’s Office. After his courageous act yesterday at the city gate, he had managed to make enemies with the Shatu people in Pingxi’s prefectural city. In addition, he was then abruptly chosen as a personal bodyguard of the Military Governor of Pingxi Prefecture, all in a day’s time. This experience itself was a rollercoaster ride – he was in an abyss and then suddenly high up in the clouds, which caused him to feel like everything was as unreal as a dream.

He touched the Military Governor Office’s bodyguard army token stashed in front of his chest. The icy and solid sensation of the metal tag finally calmed his racing little heart down from cloud nine and his mind once again returned to the swaying two-wheeled horse carriage that he was riding on.

Shi Changfeng advised Yan Liqiang on the carriage. “Two of the bodyguards of the Military Governor are outstanding Martial Warriors who came to the Pingxi Prefecture Martial Arts Academy back then. The fact that the Military Governor has chosen you as his bodyguard today could be regarded as bestowing protection upon you. Such an opportunity is hard to come by. Even I didn’t expect for you to be met with such an opportunity after bringing you to the Military Governor’s Office today. But you cannot feel too complacent about this. Seize the opportunity and definitely work hard so that you can advance as a Martial Warrior soon. With this, the kindness and high regard that the Military Governor has for you will not be in vain!”

“I understand. Thank you for the reminder, Teacher!”

“Very well then. The longest a student is allowed to study in the martial arts academy after they have joined is six years. Whether or not one advances as a Martial Warrior, they will still have to leave the academy after six years. You are fourteen years old, still a young man. As the Military Governor’s bodyguard who can walk his horse for him, no one will comment on it. But if you can’t advance as a Martial Warrior within the next six years, do you think you are still fit to walk the Military Governor’s horse for him at the age of twenty?”

Yan Liqiang shook his head. “Of course not. If that time really comes, even if the Military Governor doesn’t say anything, I wouldn’t have the face to stay by his side as his personal bodyguard and continue serving him either!”

“I am glad you understand!” Shi Changfeng nodded. His expression turned grave again. “Furthermore, those Shatu people are arrogant, unruly, cunning, and ruthless. If they really want to revenge, they will do it, even if they know you are the Military Governor’s bodyguard. They’ll at most just make sure that things are done meticulously so that no one can catch them. They will not even give you the chance to expose them to the Military Governor again. It is also impossible for the martial arts academy and the Military Governor to assign you a guard to protect you at all times, so you will still be on your own...”

Yan Liqiang suddenly felt a chill in his heart. “Teacher, are you saying that those Shatu people would dare to openly murder someone in Pingxi City?”

“I believe you have already witnessed what those Shatu people are like at the city gate. This is a vast city within the Pingxi Prefecture. The number of missing cases the Law Enforcement Office receives every year is unimaginable. If you mysteriously go missing one day, who would even think about them? So don’t forget what you said just now. Only people who continuously move on are capable of responding to spontaneous situations.”

Yan Liqiang nodded heavily.

“Also, consider this as a warning from me. In the martial arts academy, if you feel that you aren’t powerful enough, it’s better if you don’t let too many know your identity as the Military Governor’s bodyguard without reason. You should know that there are all kinds of people at the martial arts academy. So it’s inevitable that the good and the bad will be mixed. Not everyone is happy to see someone faring better than themselves. Jealousy can very often change someone into a very horrible person...”

“Understood. From now on, besides going to the Military Governor’s Office or only when needed, I will not groundlessly flaunt my status!”

“Good. Remember, the wind will always damage the flourishing trees in the forest [1]. Your identity as first among the top three from Qinghe County alone is eye-catching enough. Sometimes, there’s no harm in keeping a low profile at appropriate times!”

“Teacher, I have a question. But I am uncertain if I am allowed to ask...”

“Go ahead.”

“The Pingxi Prefecture Martial Arts Academy suddenly recruited a bunch of candidates this time. On top of that, there are also special recruitments for candidates gifted in cultivating the art of archery. Are we preparing for a war?”

Shi Changfeng stared without blinking at Yan Liqiang for a full ten seconds before he slowly nodded. “You are certainly a sharp one. The Great Han Empire and the Silver Continent are indeed growing restless. Last year, a war nearly broke out at the northern side with the Chaman people. Although it didn’t happen in the end, the Chaman people have been basking in the glory of their achievements so they definitely will not give up like this. We are predicting that they will make a move again after they have completely conquered the Silla Kingdom. The Dark Ram Tribe of the West has also been taking frequent action. The number of times their cavalries have trespassed the borders of the Gan Province and Feng Province is increasing. This is definitely not a good sign. Hence, the Feng Province and Gan Province have both increased their martial arts academy’s recruitment efforts this year...”

“So we are not allowed to initiate an attack on them and can only wait for them to invade us?” Yan Liqiang purposely pulled out a question that was very likely for a youth his age to ask.

Shi Changfeng smiled wryly, shaking his head before he let out another sigh. “Many things are not as easy as you think. To resist foreign aggression, we must first get rid of the enemies within. There is still a good deal of turmoil within the Great Han Empire. This isn’t something that can be resolved with just one word. Perhaps you will slowly come to understand this when you grow up. A century ago, the Chaman people and the Black Ram Tribe wouldn’t dare to bare their teeth against us even if we gave them ten guts. However, circumstances have changed. For now, it’s best for you to focus on your cultivation. There’s nothing you can do right now even if you know about the rest...”

In the middle of the conversation with Shi Changfeng, the horse carriage finally arrived at Pingxi Prefecture’s martial arts academy.

“You will go down there and report yourself according to process. I won’t be joining you as I still need to report back to Headmaster Long about your incident today...”

“Alright. Take care, Teacher!”

Bidding his farewell to Shi Changfeng, Yan Liqiang grabbed his luggage and quickly hopped off Shi Changfeng’s horse carriage.

The horse carriage immediately alongside another road at the side as soon as the coachman shook the reins. Yan Liqiang stood in front of the martial arts academy’s main entrance with his head lifted, staring at the magnificent entryway of Pingxi Prefecture’s martial arts academy that was more than three zhang in height.

The main entrance of the martial arts academy was located at the foot of a mountain. The courtyard walls were red and the glazed roof tiles were blue. There were pine trees everywhere on the lush mountain as far as the eye could see. Interesting, alluring, ancient-looking Chinese buildings were hidden among those forests. From the outside, this place looked like a national park or one of those luxurious holiday resorts. Putting the rest aside, just the fact that it could occupy a peaceful and quiet spot like this in the midst of the noisy bustle in the Pingxi City was enough to express the position and caliber of this martial arts academy.

The vermillion colored main door of the Pingxi Prefecture Martial Arts Academy was wide open. There was a table at the entrance and a relatively short queue was already forming in front of it. In line were youths between fourteen and eighteen or nineteen years of age. They seemed to be students who were reporting in today.

Yan Liqiang walked over and conscientiously queued up at the end of the line.

In just less than ten minutes, it was Yan Liqiang’s turn to be served.

“Full name? Hometown?” The receptionist at the entrance robotically asked two questions without so much as lifting his head.

“Yan Liqiang, from Qinghe County!”

After Yan Liqiang gave his answer, that person flipped through the register in front of him at lightning speed and found Yan Liqiang’s name in just the blink of an eye.

“Qinghe County, ranked first among the top three, Yan Liqiang?” That person only lifted his head in surprise when he saw the record on his register and sized up Yan Liqiang with his eyes. His attitude also suddenly improved significantly. “Right, please leave your fingerprint here.” He handed over a box of red ink to Yan Liqiang.

Yan Liqiang was no stranger to this kind of procedure. He very quickly left his thumbprint at the end of his name. That person then compared the thumbprint that Yan Liqiang had just left to his previous one for a moment before he gave him a nod, passing the register to an old man beside him. The old man quickly scanned the two thumbprints again and then signed a few words at the end before he returned the register to the person in front of him again. He then retrieved a metal identity pass that was about the size of half a palm from the drawer and handed it over to Yan Liqiang. “This pass is for verification purposes at the martial arts academy from now on. If lost, you’ll need to pay ten taels of gold for a replacement. Lessons will officially commence on first of the ninth lunar month. The monthly schedule and lesson locations will be updated on the course bulletin board in front here. You may use these three days to find a place in Pingxi City to settle down.”

The token that he accepted was an evidence that he had reported to the academy. Everything was much simpler than Yan Liqiang had expected – the martial arts academy would only hold one class every week and students were free to use the remaining time however they wished. Arranging the students’ accommodations and meals were not part of the martial arts academy’s responsibilities, so the students would have to arrange everything themselves. After the six years, the ones who succeeded would soar high into the skies like a dragon while the ones who didn’t succeed would roam the fields like snakes. Everyone would resign themselves to their own fates.

Yan Liqiang was still in a daze when a voice suddenly rang out from behind him. “Yan Liqiang!!”

Yan Liqiang turned his head around and saw Shi Dafeng immediately leap off a rhinodrake steed, waving at him excitedly...

The Pingxi Prefecture Martial Arts Academy was situated on Mount Thousand Pine of Pingxi City. Naturally, the ones eligible to enroll here were outstanding youths from all parts of the empire. The students who attended the martial arts academy were required to seek accommodation outside by themselves and take care of their own food, clothing, and other needs. Because of this, the hills on the other side of the Mount Thousand Pine not far from the martial arts academy had already grown into a lively street market. It was for the sake of meeting the demands of the audience, similar to how countless cyber cafes had opened up near high schools in his previous life.

The lively street market was known as Three Yuan Street. The entire Three Yuan Street was more than a thousand meters long, in the shape of a ‘Z’ on the hill of Mount Thousand Pine. There were all kinds of stores below the buildings that were built on either side of the street along the hill–weapon store, medicine store, blacksmith store, tailor, restaurants, eateries; they were all too much for the eyes to take in.

Similarly, there were also all kinds of inns and private houses for rental at the Three Yuan Street, mainly for students from the martial arts academy.

Through a broker who acted as their intermediary, Yan Liqiang and Shi Dafeng found two neighboring courtyards to rent together somewhere in the Blue Ox Alley close to Three Yuan Street.

The monthly rental of their courtyards cost them six maces of silver. The courtyard was a neat and airy self-contained unit which consisted of a small two-story house, a yard of several dozen square meters, and a basement which provided ample privacy for martial arts training. The broker told them that the previous tenants were wealthy students from the martial arts academy, and they had only left last month. A rental of six maces of silver was considered quite expensive in Pingxi City. There were other cheaper rooms and inns in Three Yuan Street which cost only a few copper coins. Quite a number of students from the martial arts academy would opt for those cheaper rooms and inns.

The courtyard was located in a very strategic location, less than a li away from the martial arts academy. Beyond the Blue Ox Alley was Three Yuan Street, which had all kinds of places that provided feasts and entertainment.

Shi Dafeng came from a wealthy clan, so the rental hardly affected them. Although Yan Liqiang wasn’t from a wealthy clan, he still chose this place for the sake of convenience. It ensured he could practice the Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing without being interrupted by anyone. He could still afford to pay at least eight taels of silver a year. Even though Yan Liqiang was usually thrifty, he was never frugal when it came to things that were truly worth spending money on.

They immediately paid the rent for a whole year in advance. The broker who brought them here was so happy that he could hardly conceal his happiness. This was because the easier he could collect the rental, the more he’d receive for his commission.

After their accommodations were settled, both of them changed the lock for the entrance to their courtyard, swapping it for a new one. They then found a bedding store in Three Yuan Street and bought a bedding set along with some daily supplies. In the afternoon, they tidied up their courtyard and kept themselves busy until nightfall. By night, their small courtyard was finally ready to be lived in and they could now be considered as having settled down in Pingxi City.

After being occupied for the entire day, Yan Liqiang really felt like he was a new student reporting in at the university.

Yan Liqiang woke up early the next morning and practiced two rounds of Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing. By the time he came out, the sky had only brightened slightly. When he was about to go out for breakfast, a series of knocks rang out on the door of his courtyard.

He went over to open the door and discovered that Shi Dafeng was standing outside.

“Hm, looking good. Were you training?” Shi Dafeng took a look at Yan Liqiang from top to bottom.

“Of course. Mornings are precious, so how can I afford to waste them? Weren’t you also practicing your Full Arm Boxing technique early this morning? Though you were in the basement, I could hear your movements from this side.”

“Hahaha, I had no choice. My Full Arm Boxing technique follows the strong path. So the movements take a lot of space. I didn’t expect your Tiger Roaring Consecutive Fist technique to be this laid-back. Perhaps if I could someday train the Full Arm Boxing technique to its pinnacle, I’d be able to keep the noise down!” Shi Dafeng laughed. “Let’s go get breakfast together. The beef soup and steamed bun shop looks good. And after breakfast, maybe we can explore Pingxi City? I’ve only been there twice with my father before, and both trips had been short. There are a lot of interesting places in Pingxi City, like Chongsheng Temple, Jade Pearl Spring, and Nine Dragons Bridge. I’ve never been to all these attractions yet!”

Yan Liqiang was initially thinking of refusing the invitation and telling him that he wished to stay in his courtyard to train. But then he recalled how those Shatu people were hooting about taking their revenge on him. “Alright, let’s explore!” He nodded in agreement.

He had just arrived in Pingxi City, and as a newcomer, it was necessary for him to familiarize himself with Pingxi City rather than staying ignorant and clueless about his surroundings. He figured that he might as well find out the Shatu people’s current state of affairs in Pingxi City so that he could be a little prepared. After all, one could only escape unscathed through a hundred battles if he knew his enemies as well as himself.

After replying to Shi Dafeng, Yan Liqiang turned around and went upstairs to retrieve his money bag. He then locked the door of his small courtyard and left the Blue Ox Alley with Shi Dafeng.

After taking a left turn in the Blue Ox Alley, the steamed bun shop was around a hundred meters away. Despite the earliness of the morning, business was already rolling in the steamed bun shop. The fragrance of the shop’s steamed buns and its beef with pickle soup could be smelled from afar.

Upon arriving at the shop, they both ordered a basket of steamed buns each, took a bowl of beef with pickle soup, and then proceeded to savor the delicious food.

To be honest, the steamed buns served in this tiny shop by the street were better than the ones Yan Liqiang had eaten at a five-star hotel from his previous life. The flour of the buns here was simply flour and the minced meat inside it was just simply minced meat. Everything in the flour was authentic, without any bleaching agents or additives like bulking agents. The steamed buns were slightly yellowish with a natural aroma of wheat. The minced meat inside contained pork, mushroom, and some cabbage. The pork didn’t contain a leanness-enhancing agent, and the mushrooms and cabbages were all natural. The fillings were seasoned before they were stuffed into the bun, and they were neither too greasy nor too fatty. Upon biting into the bun, its aromatic fragrance exploded inside the mouth. And to go along with the steamed buns was a marinated vegetable soup that was stewed with beef bone broth and some vegetables. The experience of taking a bite of the bun and then drinking a mouthful of the soup was simply a pleasurable moment to enjoy...

After enjoying the steamed buns in the small shop, Yan Liqiang and Shi Dafeng left Three Yuan Street. With large strides, they hurried on to their next destination in Pingxi City.

The distance from the east side of Pingxi City to the west was less than ten thousand meters, and seven or eight thousand meters from north to south. It had taken many years for Pingxi City to build up to this size and scale. The history of Pingxi City wasn’t that long, only about five hundred years. The city’s population was less than 900,000. Compared to other magnificent prefectures and provinces in the Great Han Empire which easily had a history of a few thousand years, Pingxi City was nothing but an underripe entity.

Yet this city, which could hardly be considered large, was the best place to be among the entire Pingxi Prefecture. Its liveliness and the number talents gathered in the city far exceeded other county towns.

Yan Liqiang explored many places in the city within half a day, and the experience had been quite an eyeopener.

...

By evening, close to dinner time, Yan Liqiang and Shi Dafeng had arrived somewhere near the Nine Dragons Bridge in Pingxi City. They chose a four-story-high restaurant at the Nine Dragons Bridge, and picked a table by the window on the topmost floor to enjoy their dinner.

Sitting beside the window, they glanced outside. Somewhere not far from a bridge was the region where the Shatu people in Pingxi City were gathered.

The area was very huge, occupying about the size of a town in the eastern part of Pingxi City. From afar, one could see the buildings among the Shatu community were of a totally different style compared to the ones in Pingxi City. The Shatu people could also be seen walking around in that area.

That Shatu man at the city gate had claimed that there were a hundred thousand Shatu people gathered in Pingxi City, which had sounded like an exaggeration at the time. But now that he had seen the size of the Shatu community here, it was quite possible that there were at least seventy or eighty thousand of them here.

Yan Liqiang was planning to call for a horse carriage to bring them for a tour around the Shatu community. However, the coachman refused to take them there, even when Yan Liqiang offered to double the payment. In the end, the coachman was only willing to send them to the eastern side of the Nine Dragons Bridge but was unwilling to go any further than that.

With his talent and capability, Yan Liqiang was feeling confident, even though he had just offended the Shatu people a few days ago. Even though it had barely been a few days since the incident, he still dared to wander into the Shatu community to understand more about them. Yan Liqiang believed it might be true that the Shatu people did intend to take revenge on him, but it was unlikely that they’d be able to get ahold of his whereabouts in Pingxi City in such a short amount of time. Even in his previous life, it wasn’t easy to pinpoint someone’s whereabouts without the help of technology, let alone in this current situation.

Throughout the entire day he’d spent exploring Pingxi City with Shi Dafeng, Yan Liqiang hadn’t sensed anyone stalking or peeping on his movements either. Therefore, he felt at ease in taking a closer look at the Shatu people’s current condition here.

Situated at such a lively area around the Nine Dragons Bridge, the business of this restaurant should have been prosperous during the dinner hour, yet Yan Liqiang realized that this restaurant and a few others restaurants nearby weren’t doing so well. Among the dozens of tables in the entire fourth floor, only three were occupied, including the one he and Shi Dafeng were sitting at.

“Waiter, why is the business so slow in this restaurant?” Looking away from the gathering place of the Shatu people, Yan Liqiang asked the waiter as he served the dishes they’d ordered.

“It’d be strange for business to be good here, considering how close we are to the gathering place of those Shatu people!” The waiter sighed. “Our business was so much better before those Shatu people expanded their community all the way here to the Nine Dragons Bridge. But now, this is basically how things are around here. You’ll still see some people around during the daytime. But when nighttime comes around, you won’t see a single soul outside on the road!”

“Why is that?”

“Sir, are you a newcomer to Pingxi City?”

“Well, yes...”

“No wonder!” The waiter shook his head. “It’s still alright during the daytime, but when nighttime comes around, there’ll be quite a lot of Shatu people pretending to be drunk. They move around in groups and deliberately cause trouble by throwing bottles, yelling, and harassing the pedestrians and merchants on the street. Because of that, the number of people on the eastern side of the Nine Dragons Bridge will gradually thin out by nightfall, and our business becomes more difficult to run. All of this is just a ploy acted out by those Shatu people. They hope to slowly ruin our businesses until we can no longer sustain ourselves because no one dares to come. And then they’ll come to us with an offer, like renting our place at a cheaper rate or buying over our restaurant. If we refuse, they’ll just use more underhanded tricks, and become even more aggressive in the end. Everyone in Pingxi City knows about their dirty tactics...”

“The Law Enforcement Office didn’t bother to do anything about it?”

“Under the protection of the ‘Writ of Grace’, law enforcers usually let small mistakes slide. If they catch any Shatu people, then countless more will come out to cause trouble. Both the authorities and the Law Enforcement Office won’t dare to lay a finger on them. If any conflicts happen between us and those Shatu people, the authorities will just take their side and have us tolerate them, even though we’re getting the worst end of the stick from their outrageous behavior. The merchants on this street can only form our own association in self-defense, and prevent those Shatu People from expanding their territories to the eastern side of the Nine Dragons Bridge...”

“Has it been like this all these years?”

“Yes. Otherwise, those Shatu people wouldn’t have been able to use all their dirty tricks to get their way in Pingxi City this whole time, and they wouldn’t have dominated such a huge territory through their tricks...”

Upon hearing the waiter’s words, the expression on Yan Liqiang’s face gradually turned into a frown...

Dinner was only half done before there was a sudden clamor outside of the restaurant. Yan Liqiang heard someone yelling outside, “Some Shatu people have come to cause trouble!!” Upon hearing this, before Yan Liqiang and Shi Dafeng could even move, the waiters of the restaurant immediately rushed out of the restaurant.

“We should go and have a look too...” Yan Liqiang told Shi Dafeng. He nodded at his suggestion before both of them also followed the rest downstairs.

A few young waiters from the restaurant had already rushed into the kitchen before charging outside alongside the other few chefs with kitchen knives in their hands.

By now a huge crowd of people had already gathered in the same street where the restaurant was, somewhere fifty meters away close to the Nine Dragons Bridge. Most of the workers from the stores along the entire street came out with something in their hands and were making their way toward the crowd.

Yan Liqiang and Shi Dafeng also rushed to the crowd of onlookers. The moment they scanned the surroundings, they saw a group of Shatu people gathered at the entrance of a medicinal store, shouting loudly. There was another Shatu man who was so old that one couldn’t tell his age, and he was lying on a plank in front the medicinal store entrance. His body was covered by a piece of white fabric. His mouth was slightly agape and his eyes were closed, looking like he was already dead.

“Our medicinal store has never done any business with you Shatu people! This is simply an extortion!!” A person who appeared to be the shop owner of the medicinal store stood at the store entrance with a red, anxious face. He was furiously shouting at those Shatu people. “Everyone come and listen to this! These Shatu people have carried a corpse here! They claim he passed away from consuming the medicine from our store and are making demands to reimburse them with a thousand taels of gold! What kind of logic is this!? We requested to have them to show us our store prescription and receipt, but they aren’t able to provide any!”

“We don’t care! We’ve already thrown away the prescription and the receipt! This old man passed away after taking the medicine from your store. How are you going to compensate our loss?!” A Shatu man in his thirties was shouting in an equally loud voice along with the crowd of Shatu people around him. “PAY UP! PAY UP! PAY UP!” They shouted in unison and started to pound against the door of the medicinal store. A few of them even wanted to barge into the medicinal store, but were stopped by the shop owners from other stores who had rushed from the neighboring streets.

When both parties started shoving each other, a team of bailiffs who were patrolling nearby ran over and their brows were beaded with sweat. They hurriedly broke the two parties apart. After fully understanding the whole story, one of the young bailiffs spoke his mind. “I’m pretty sure a coroner will know if this Shatu person died from consuming medicine after an investigation.”

“Us Shatu people shall not be easily touched by others even in our deaths. Such action is blasphemy and an insult to us!” One of the older Shatu men in the crowd said this and then extended his hand to slap that young bailiff’s face so hard that his hat fell off. The young bailiff was taken aback for a moment before he reflexively drew his iron ruler [1] to retaliate. However, he was quickly held back by another older bailiff beside him. The old Shatu man who had just slapped the young bailiff immediately started yelling at the top of his lungs. “THE BAILIFF FROM PINGXI CITY HIT SOMEONE, THE BAILIFF HIT SOMEONE!!”

Upon witnessing the scene that had just unfolded before their eyes, Yan Liqiang and Shi Dafeng’s faces flushed with anger. “DAMN IT!” Shi Dafeng bellowed in rage and was about to rush up there before Yan Liqiang held him back by grabbing his arm.

“We can simply leave after hitting a person, but the owner of this medicinal store will be in a bad position. He cannot move his store. These Shatu people will definitely make him pay double for what they have suffered. You want the owner to take the consequences of our actions?” Yan Liqiang calmly reasoned.

“So we are just going to stand here and watch these Shatu people bully them?”

“We’ll see how it goes...”

The bailiffs had arrived, and the conflict at the scene didn’t continue on. In the end, the bailiffs brought the few Shatu people along with the medicinal store owner and his assistants back to the Law Enforcement Office.

The medicinal store was closed, and more than half of the crowd of onlookers dispersed.

“Old Fang won’t be able to keep this medicinal store. This medicinal store is at a good location and is also east of the Nine Dragons Bridge. The Shatu people have been hostile toward this medicinal store for a very long time. Even if Old Fang’s lawyer wins this case, those Shatu people will not leave the matter at that...” A discussion broke out among the onlookers in the surroundings. Quite a few people felt indignant at the injustice.

“If the Shatu people really take over Manager Fang’s medicinal store, then every business on this street will definitely be ruined by them. Regardless of what happens, we will need to support Manager Fang in keeping this medicinal store. Come, let us all go and support Manager Fang at the Law Enforcement Office from the outside!”

“Let’s go, let’s go!” The business owners on the street had a brief discussion for before they made their way towards the Law Enforcement Office altogether.

“Are we joining them?” Shi Dafeng asked Yan Liqiang.

“Now that this involves the Law Enforcement Office, the dispute with the Shatu people will not simply last for only ten days or half a month. Anyhow, the verdict of this case will not be released any time soon. Let’s head back!”

“How do the Shatu manage to put Pingxi City in such turmoil? Not only that, we are even bullied by them. F*ck! No wonder why my father never wanted to make business deals with them The Shatu people are really wretched!” Shi Dafeng still found it hard to stay calm.

Yan Liqiang could only shake his head in response. He had only been in Pingxi City for less than three days and he had already experienced the arrogance and unreasonable overbearance the Shatu people had within Pingxi City twice.

These circumstances were much more serious than Yan Liqiang had imagined. This no longer had anything to do with the ‘Writ of Grace’.

As a person who lived two lives, Yan Liqiang was very familiar with the reasoning behind the foundation of organized crime syndicates that empowered them in the peaceful era. It wasn’t so much that the organization was capable of cutting down, beating up, or killing anyone. It was because these organized crime syndicates were under a protective umbrella that had the authority to shield them. The same logic could be applied to the Shatu people. If they didn’t have the protection and connivance from a powerful authority within Pingxi City, it was completely impossible for them to be this powerful and unbridled.

Just whose protection were these Shatu people under?

Although the answer to this question might be a little difficult to accept, based on yesterday’s experiences, the person with highest authority in the Pingxi Prefecture was most likely the individual who was capable of supporting the Shatu people’s back.

Yan Liqiang had always doubted the integrity and moral standings of government officials. More often than not, the power of authority was like a magnifying glass. When such authority was bestowed upon someone, it would greatly zoom into that person’s greed, desire, and ugly side.

It was actually very easy to corrupt someone.

To be honest, Yan Liqiang wasn’t too pleased about his discovery. This was because he suddenly realized that the supporter of those Shatu people who were hooting about taking revenge on him in this city was true, colossal figure in an unshakable position.

At times like these, apart from quickly becoming powerful, Yan Liqiang couldn’t find any other methods that could be used to respond to the Shatu people’s threats.

In the following two days, although Shi Dafeng came to invite him out, Yan Liqiang never left the little courtyard that he rented again. Apart from going outside and buying some food to fill his tummy during meal time, Yan Liqiang stayed in the basement of his small courtyard for two consecutive days, repetitively cultivating the Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing along with the Tiger Roaring Consecutive Fist technique...

The first day of the ninth lunar month arrived in just the blink of an eye. It was officially the opening day of Pingxi Prefecture Martial Arts Academy. Yan Liqiang, who was filled with a sense of nervousness, welcomed his new identity and life today...

There was only one lesson scheduled every week at the martial arts academy and every lesson lasted only one hour at most. The duration of the shortest lesson was shorter than you could even imagine.

No attendance was taken during every lesson as the martial arts academy never made any lesson compulsory for students. The students of the martial arts academy were free to choose any lesson they wished to attend!

Students were not grouped by grades or classes in the martial arts academy. All lessons were open to all students in the academy.

Most importantly, there were no reviews or examinations in the martial arts academy at all! Everyone would have to voluntarily leave after either fulfilling their stay in the martial arts academy for six years or advancing as a Martial Warrior.

Just these few points alone were probably enough to make Yan Liqiang’s acquaintances back in university in his previous life cheer excitedly. To those who were obsessed with skipping classes, picking up girls and playing games, this martial arts academy was simply heaven.

In other words, the Pingxi Prefecture Martial Arts Academy wasn’t like an academy but more like a martial arts club for youths.

Academy tutors like Shi Changfeng and the rest were more like the club presidents instead.

In the martial arts academy, academy tutors might impart some knowledge to you which was not easily learned by ordinary people out there. However, if those skills could be learned by just anyone, then perhaps those skills weren’t that valuable in the first place.

There was a huge library in the martial arts academy that allowed students to borrow all kinds of manuals for reading. However, all these manuals were literature and historical classics. In the entire martial arts academy, there wasn’t even a single martial arts secret manual available to borrow.

There was only one lesson scheduled every week in the martial arts academy. At first, Yan Liqiang found it a little strange because the number of lessons conducted in the martial arts academy was too little. It was not until the lesson had commenced, that he understood that attending a lesson once a week was not too little but too much instead. That was because, in martial arts cultivation, skills required practice and not only listening to lectures. Nearly all skills and techniques could only be achieved through diligent practice. As the saying goes, ‘the master teaches the trade, but the apprentice’s skill is self-made’. Very often, a word of wisdom from the academy tutor would require a few years of diligence and cultivation.

The first lesson Yan Liqiang attended at the martial arts academy was so short that it was beyond his imagination.

That lesson was conducted by an old man in a huge classroom within the martial arts academy. During the lesson, that old man only demonstrated the Horse Stance in front of all the seven hundred newly recruited students this year and told them three things.

His first sentence was, “The Horse Stance is the result of hard work and persistence over time. Do not be lazy, and make sure your tendons are taut when you assume the Horse Stance!”

His second sentence was, “You will need to be able to hold the stance until you can maintain your entire body in a relaxed manner along with a peaceful state of mind. Only with a relaxed body and tranquil mind, will you be close to passing the Horse Stance stage.”

The third sentence was, “I will not be coming in for future Horse Stance lessons. This skill will only succeed through practice and not words. My words will not do any good. Go on and practice it independently, spend a few years time. You will achieve a great outcome if you can endure the hardship. That’s all, you are dismissed!”

The entire lesson ended in less than three minutes. When the old man left the classroom, students were looking at each other in dismay, unable to believe that their first lesson in the martial arts academy had ended just like that.

Horse Stance was a lesson scheduled for the first week of every month. Since the old man wasn’t coming from now on, then there would actually be no more lessons during the first week of every month.

This was the lesson style at the martial arts academy. The academy tutors here would not care how many students had been recruited or how the students fared. They would only convey truly useful things to you with just a few words and end the lesson there. The rest was up to your own diligence instead of counting on someone else.

Yan Liqiang had only discovered later that the old man who taught them during the Horse Stance lesson was the dojo master of the renowned Dragon Flag Dojo in Pingxi City, Song Tianhao. This Horse Stance technique was one that Song Tianhao could openly teach everyone in public. If one truly wished to learn the more advanced Horse Stance technique from the Essence Unifying Post stance, then they would need to visit the Dragon Flag Dojo to be formally apprenticed to a master. It went without saying that an honorarium of at least a hundred taels of gold would be needed to be apprenticed to a master. This wasn’t an amount that simply anyone could afford.

The following few academy tutors conducted their lesson in precisely the same way as Song Tianhao. Their instructions were concise, clear and quick. After their lessons, it was up to everyone to independently practice.

That included Shi Changfeng’s sword technique lessons.

During the first two months upon Yan Liqiang’s arrival at the martial arts academy, Shi Changfeng’s basic sword technique carried on for four lessons. In those four lessons, each consisted of a lecture from Shi Changfeng which lasted less than ten minutes. In those ten minutes, he only taught two or three basic movements in sword techniques – splitting, thrusting, poking, pulling, snapping, intercepting, smearing, piercing, flicking, lifting, twirling and sweeping. He would dismiss the lesson once he was done with explaining and let everyone practice it by themselves.

In contrast, Shi Changfeng would speak more during literature and history lessons instead. His lecture would usually last almost an hour during every literature and history lesson. At the end of every lesson, Shi Changfeng would introduce a book title to everyone so they could look for it and read on their own time.

There were also other lessons available, for example, introduction to saber techniques, introduction to hidden weapons, lectures on the art of archery, lectures on Tiger Roaring Consecutive Fist technique. However, these lessons were either very general or still emphasized on practicality. The things they taught were not really complex. After all, the educational objective of the top martial arts academy in the prefecture was only to nurture their students into a Martial Warrior. From certain aspects, a Martial Warrior was merely at the entrance of martial arts cultivation.

Perhaps the capability of the academy tutors here may not be limited to only this extent, but to obtain true skills, it was necessary for one to be apprenticed to a master. However, the requirements of being apprenticed to one were very demanding. Yan Liqiang heard that apart from Song Tianhao who ran a dojo, it was very rare for the academy tutors here to accept any disciples. The reason behind that was due to their origins from different clans or they were apprenticed under different masters. Hence, they weren’t allowed to casually accept any other disciples and also weren’t allowed to simply impart true skills and techniques to others.

The knowledge imparted at the martial arts academy wasn’t that in-depth and there were no secret manuals provided for reading either. However, the beauty of the martial arts academy was that they provided the most ideal environment for martial arts training to students. Such environment for martial arts training was unimaginable for most of them in the past.

In the martial arts academy, there was a dedicated archery range for those who wished to pick up bowmanship. There was also a horse arena in the martial arts academy if one wished to be trained in horsemanship. The steeds kept in the arena were all rhinodrakes. The martial arts academy also had a dedicated venue for spear technique training. It was even convenient if one wished to spar with someone as there were more than ten various kinds of arenas in the entire martial arts academy. There were no issues in a bare-handed battle or a fully dressed spar armed with weapons.

If one wished to practice the Horse Stance, the martial arts academy also had a clearing made in the pine forest, for students to practice. Yan Liqiang heard that practicing the Horse Stance together with many people could create good an atmosphere where everyone could supervise each other and improve each other while competing against each other in perseverance and endurance. The result was better than solo practice and one would find it easier to pass the Horse Stance stage this way.

Although Yan Liqiang felt that the things he learned in the martial arts academy were a little too simple, he never slacked. He remained diligent in his training every day at the martial arts academy.

Apart from cultivating Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Manual in the basement of his home every morning and night, Yan Liqiang spent the rest of his whole two months after the academy’s opening, either in the spear technique training field, the archery range or the sword technique training field at the martial arts academy. He refused to go home before his body was thoroughly worn out for the day every day.

In these two months, Yan Liqiang’s strength gradually stood out from the other seven hundred students among his batch in the martial arts academy, especially because he frequently sparred openly with Shi Dafeng in the academy’s arenas. They’d sometimes compete with their fists and legs or with weapons. Yan Liqiang would always manage to push Shi Dafeng into a corner. Sometimes, he would also invite some new students who were watching them enviously and were itching to challenge them, to spar in the arena. Yan Liqiang’s reputation gradually rose from nothing, to above the martial arts academy’s newest batch of recruited students. Someone even declared that Yan Liqiang was not only the first among the top three of Qinghe County’s martial arts trial but also the best among all the new students.

Of course, Yan Liqiang just smiled at the title given to him for being the best among all the new students. He didn’t mind it.

In just these two months, by the eleventh lunar month, Yan Liqiang had a feeling that he was about to pass the Stretching Tendon and Extending Bone stage...

Shi Changfeng had told him before, that he wished that Yan Liqiang could strive to pass the Stretching Tendon and Extending Bone stage within these two years. However, Yan Liqiang’s speed in cultivation had exceeded everyone’s expectations. Even he himself didn’t expect to pass this stage so fast...

“A warrior has Confucian Six Arts – the art of archery, charioteering, swordsmanship, medicine, mathematics, as well as literature and history. A practitioner complete with the Confucian Six Arts will be able to go everywhere and do anything. The art of archery is the best weapon to use to kill during battles. Charioteering refers to the skill in riding any steed or driving any carriage. If one has fully grasped charioteering, traveling over a thousand li in a day will be child’s play. Regardless of whether on the battlefield or off it, one will be in difficult position without charioteering. Swordsmanship is the way of battle. As the saying goes: a warrior is nothing without his sword. The most basic requirement as a Martial Warrior is to be able to master a short-ranged weapon to attack as well as defend. Of course, swordsmanship is only a general reference. Almost everyone will cultivate this. Those who have chosen more unusual weapons also fall within this category...”

In the martial arts academy’s huge classroom, an academy tutor was on the podium explaining his lesson today with great enthusiasm. The podium was right in the middle of the classroom and there were rows of chairs arranged around it. The entire classroom was as huge as a wide concert stage and it could easily accommodate an audience of a thousand.

The academy tutor was an old man dressed in green garb. Yan Liqiang was no stranger to this old man because he was the shop owner of the biggest medicinal store, Auspicious Fortune, on Three Yuan Street. In just these two months, Yan Liqiang had already bumped into this old man more than once on Three Yuan Street.

A good deal of academy tutors from the martial arts academy had other businesses and professions aside from their status as an academy tutor. Take Song Tianhao for example, although the salary of an academy tutor wasn’t low and was enough to live by for an ordinary person, most people, especially those with talents weren’t satisfied by just living like a normal person. Money was required everywhere. Clothing, food, housing, transport, maintaining social relationships, wine, women, wealth, as well as buying a house and starting a family, all required money. Cultivation required even more money. Academy tutors were not immortals that lived above the common populace either. They had their own lives too so it was no surprise that they had other businesses and ways of earning a living.

Even a well-respected man like Shi Changfeng was a part-time private tutor to a few children from the influential clans of Pingxi City, not to mention the others.

Yan Liqiang was seated at the furthest spot in the classroom by the window without anyone else around him. Half of Yan Liqiang attention was on the podium, listening to the academy tutor’s lecture, while the other half was wandering outside the window.

At this very moment, snowflakes were already dancing outside the window!

This was the first snowfall ever since Yan Liqiang arrived in this world. As soon as he got up this morning, Mount Thousand Pine was blanketed with white snow. Snow was also piling up in the courtyard which he rented.

Before he realized it, it had already been more than two months since he arrived at the martial arts academy. A month ago, all the new students would fill up the seats during every lecture. But ever since last month, the new students had started to learn how to be more selective of the courses to attend and also to direct some focus on their cultivation. They had stopped flocking to every lesson. The new students who already had experience in this field or already knew the content which the academy tutor would cover today didn’t attend. There were only about five hundred students in the entire classroom, a few students among these were from previous intakes.

“Why don’t we go enjoy some lamb hotpot at Gathering Restaurant for lunch today? A pot of lamb soup will do us good in this weather. It’s on me!” Shi Dafeng, who was fully dressed in a gorgeous silver fox fur garb, whispered to Yan Liqiang beside him. He was completely distracted from the lesson.

“I need to go to the Military Governor’s Office this afternoon...” Yan Liqiang replied in a soft voice.

“Oh, I almost forgot about that...” Shi Dafeng knocked on his own head then gave Yan Liqiang an envious look. He reached out and jabbed Yan Liqiang below his armpit with his hand. “Remember to help recommend me if the Military Governor is recruiting bodyguards next time! I think I’m not bad too!” He said brazenly.

“I haven’t seen him for a month already. Do you think he will take the words of a little horse-brushing attendant like me seriously?”

“Well, at least it’s still better than not saying anything...”

“Focus on the lesson, focus!” Yan Liqiang chucked. Seeing that the conversation had stopped, he started concentrating on listening to the lecture.

Over these two months, he was with Shi Dafeng a lot. He had to drop by the Military Governor’s Office every once a week. He didn’t hide the fact that he had been recruited as a bodyguard by the Military Governor from Shi Dafeng. Shi Dafeng also knew the entire story and felt nothing but envy towards Yan Liqiang’s good fortune. In these two months, Yan Liqiang lived a simple yet fulfilling life. His daily life basically revolved around the martial arts academy and the small courtyard he rented. He had yet to see the Shatu people taking their revenge so the whole incident was gradually pushed to the back of his mind.

When Yan Liqiang was practicing Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing, he could feel the joints and the ligaments in his entire body heating up as well as a numbing sensation akin to electric, coursing through every tendon and vein in his body. With the emergence of such signs, he knew he was already close to passing the Stretching Tendon and Extending Bone stage.

“...The lesson for today is a basic self-rescue technique from the art of medicine of the Six Confucian Arts. What should you do if you sustain a wound from swords or blades out there and you are bleeding profusely without any appropriate medicine on you? And on top of that, you can’t buy the Blood Coagulation Pill from Auspicious Fortune even though you have the money?!”

When the students heard how the old man didn’t fail to advertise his own medicinal store even during the lesson, they all laughed in a good-natured way.

While speaking, the old man picked up a potted plant from the floor, placed it on the podium, then started to explain to everyone. “Everyone needs to first remember this type of herb. This is very commonly seen everywhere in the countryside. It’s a Lace Fern but also referred to as Black Bamboo, Black Leek, Cliff Cypress or Chicken Tail Grass. There are various names given to it, but its appearance will never change. This herb is usually about a foot tall, has short rhizomes and grows horizontally. There are fine brownish-red patterns on the leaves and they usually grow in a bunch. The stalk looks a little like the stem a rice plant. These grow in damp areas, like at the sides of a river, in bushes or in crevices. They are mostly seen at the foot of mountains. If you are injured and see Lace Ferns growing nearby, you may pluck them, chew the part above the roots thoroughly in your mouth, and apply it on the wound before bandaging with fabric to instantly staunch bleeding. It is effective against all external bleeding wounds. In fact, it is the main ingredient of many Jinchuang ointments and hemostatic drugs.”

...

This lesson went on for a long time, reaching slightly more than an hour. By the time the academy tutor was done explaining a few medicinal herbs on the podium, as soon as the class was dismissed, many flocked to the front to examine those herbs.

Yan Liqiang and Shi Dafeng joined the crowd too. After remembering the appearance of the few medicinal herbs, they left the classroom. Although the content of this lesson wasn’t in depth, it was very useful.

When they exited the classroom, the forest outside was covered in snow. The snow was still falling even now.

“Liqiang, where are you going now?”

“I’m about to return home to get ready. It’s about time for me to go be a horsekeeper!” Yan Liqiang replied.

“Well then let’s go back together. It’s too cold today so I don’t feel like moving around too much, otherwise, it will get really uncomfortable after being drenched in sweat. I wonder where Shen Teng has his private lessons today. He’s trying really hard to catch up to you...”

Yan Liqiang smiled while shaking his head. Shen Teng had challenged him last month, so both them had sparred with each other in one of the arenas in the martial arts academy. That was the second time they sparred against each other after a few months. Shen Teng was very well prepared and had shown a lot of improvement. His body technique had become even more agile and versatile, even so, he still couldn’t beat Yan Liqiang and was defeated once again. Since then, Yan Liqiang had not seen Shen Teng for days.

He heard that the Shen Clan had a manor with a courtyard in Pingxi City, so Shen Teng lived there instead of living anywhere near Three Yuan Street. Therefore he only saw him once in a while and he didn’t stick around Yan Liqiang or Shi Dafeng every day.

Both of them were about to walk downhill while still speaking before Yan Liqiang noticed about seven people gathered under a pavilion nearby. One of the people pointed towards Yan Liqiang, then all seven people came out together from the pavilion and made their way towards him.

These seven people were all strangers to Yan Liqiang. They were slightly older, around eighteen to twenty. From the looks of it, they seemed to be seniors from the martial arts academy.

The mountain path in the martial arts academy wasn’t wide to begin with, but it was enough to allow a row of four to five people walking side by side without any hindrance. However, when those seven people came towards them, they completely blocked Yan Liqiang’s path on both sides. Furthermore, when the few of them came towards them, their eyes were trained on Yan Liqiang’s face while they put up menacing looks.

Yan Liqiang’s gut feeling told them that these people had an ill-intentions towards him.

“Be careful...” Shi Dafeng reminded him softly from the side, while still walking together towards the few people.

The two parties stopped when they were about two meters apart.

“Excuse me...” Yan Liqiang said calmly.

“So you are Yan Liqiang?” A youth of about twenty years old standing in the middle of the seven people sneered in contempt before he critically sized up Yan Liqiang from top to bottom. “You’re just as arrogant as the rumors say!”

“A person from this kind of backwater place has never experienced much. You probably think if you can get some reputation in the Pingxi Prefecture Martial Arts Academy and advance as a Martial Warrior, you will be able to show off in front of the other country bumpkins back in your hometown then get a menial job at a government office and consider yourself at the pinnacle of your life!” Another youth jeered from the side, causing the rest around him to roar with laughter.

When Shi Dafeng heard these people making fun of Yan Liqiang, he glared at them and was about to confront them when Yan Liqiang held him back by his wrist.

Yan Liqiang looked at these people and smiled. He was trying to identify these people in his head quickly but he recognized none of them. Damn it! Why were these people finding trouble with him? He didn’t offend anyone either at the academy. Could it be that they were related to the Shatu people? But that seemed to be unlikely as the influence of Shatu people shouldn’t be that powerful to this extent yet.

Although thoughts were swiftly running through Yan Liqiang’s mind, his mouth didn’t stop for a second. He stared at the person who was talking earlier and said, “I’m fourteen this year and have already achieved the first amongst the top three in Qinghe County’s Martial Arts County Trial Examination. For those who were laughing, if none of you have ever achieved such a ranking before the age of fourteen, then you are all trash who are no better than a country bumpkin. A trash alone would certainly have no courage to make fun of someone who is more powerful than him, but a group of trash together can boost each other’s courage. Or perhaps you are showing off your talent in reincarnating. Is that the case? Needless to say, your performances have really opened up my eyes!”

The laughter of that group of people came to an abrupt halt, like a duck that had been grabbed by its neck. Shi Dafeng were stunned too as he looked at Yan Liqiang in surprise as if it was the first time he met Yan Liqiang. It had never occurred to him that such harsh words would actually come from Yan Liqiang, who was usually so gentle and sophisticated.

“What did you say?” The youth from earlier yelled while he took a step forward with a flushed face.

“I just made myself loud and clear. Unless you need me to call you trash one more time?”

That youth couldn’t hold it in anymore and right away threw a punch in Yan Liqiang’s direction.

Without flinching, Yan Liqiang took a stride forward and similarly threw a punch towards him as well.

Both of their knuckles collided hard against each other.

Yan Liqiang didn’t budge an inch. However, the youth was sent flying backward, groaning from a single punch by Yan Liqiang instead, knocking into the wall his companions who were standing behind him had formed. Those who were supporting him were also knocked a step back at the same time by the force. Each and every one of their expressions contorted in no time.

Nobody had expected the strength of Yan Liqiang’s punch could be so powerful. From earlier on, it was evidently clear to everyone that those who had set their hands on Yan Liqiang were effortlessly thrown away by that unreasonable force from his fist.

Yan Liqiang only didn’t want to act on it. He had gained the upper hand by a show of strength in no time as soon as he acts on it and his aura itself had put these men down too.

“What are you doing?” a loud voice could be heard from a nearby distance. Along with this loud voice was a bearded man who was walking over from a near distance. With a strict gaze, he looked at everyone who was on the scene.

“Greetings, Teacher Xu...” Yan Liqiang and those who were blocking him greeted that man at once.

That man, who was an academy tutor from the Martial Arts Academy, taught spear techniques and had given Yan Liqiang two basic courses on it. Usually, when Yan Liqiang was practicing in the spear training field, Teacher Xu would always be at the side to point out on Yan Liqiang’s movements and basic techniques. Yan Liqiang had greatly benefited from his pointers.

“You’ve been in the Martial Arts Academy for so many years, don’t you know personal fights in the Martial Arts Academy are strictly prohibited, Wang Haofei?”

Wang Haofei?

Yan Liqiang’s heart skipped a beat upon hearing the name. He had vaguely guessed why these people had come to find trouble with him.

The person who had voiced out first among that group forced a smile, “We heard that there’s a stronger newcomer called Yan Liqiang from this new batch. So, we’re here to get acquainted with him today!”

“Through fists?” The academy tutor who taught spear techniques was not a fool. He gave Wang Haofei a glare as soon as he heard the explanation.

“Yes! Sun Yang was trying to spar with him just now. It wasn’t an actual fight....”

“Spar, my ass! Don’t try to find trouble here! I am very well aware of your cultivation. If you really want to fight, give Yan Liqiang a spear and come up to him in a line. You will only find yourself getting impaled to your death because none of you will be able to block Yan Liqiang’s spear when he lunges. What’s there to spar? It is only sensible to polish your own techniques when you have some time on hand. Do not waste your time on meaningless things!” The spear technique tutor waved his hand and spoke impatiently.

Everyone’s expression in that group turned unpleasant all at once when they heard what the spear technique tutor had said. They exchanged looks with each other as though they were still in disbelief.

“Teacher Xu, isn’t that... a little too exaggerated...?” Wang Haofei argued unconvincingly. “Regardless, we have been cultivating in the Martial Arts Academy all these years. I have already passed the Stretching Tendon and Extending Bone stage as well as the first level of basic sword technique...”

“So what if you have passed the Stretching Tendon and Extending Bone stage? It doesn’t mean you are invincible. You may have passed the first rank in the basic spear technique, but both your strength and speed are inferior to his. You think your sword technique will be able to block the attack of someone whose basic spear technique is about to pass the second level? How many lunges will you be able to block?”

What?! Yan Liqiang’s basic spear technique was about to pass the second level? Every single one of them who were in Yan Liqiang’s way was staring at him in disbelief. As a student in the Martial Arts Academy, they understood the strength of the second level of the basic spear technique. This second level basic spear technique shouldn’t be underestimated because just the two movements of blocking and slashing were incomparably firm, sharp, swift and violent. Killing a person would appear to be as simple as poking a hole through a piece of paper. In recent years, out of those who had advanced to Marital Warriors, there hadn’t been a lot of people who could cultivate up to the second level of the basic spear technique by the time they left the Martial Arts Academy.

“Teacher Xu...” Yan Liqiang smiled bitterly while he looked at the plain-spoken spear technique tutor. He didn’t expect Teacher Xu to actually spill such information at a moment like this.

“You’ve come to the spearing field to practice so many times and I’m not blind either. You think I can’t tell what’s your standard in the spearing technique? Yan Liqiang, you made me wonder where did you learn to be so tricky at such a young age. You even concealed your strength to look like you are not even someone who practiced with spears!” The man criticized Yan Liqiang.

What else could Yan Liqiang say?

“The strength of the spear is just like the strength of a fist. The technique of the spear is just like the technique of a fist. Didn’t any of you realize that the punch Yan Liqiang threw earlier on was just like a spear lunging forward? Yan Liqiang held back just now when he threw the punch. Otherwise, Sun Yang, your fist would now have been crippled. It wouldn’t be healed without taking half a year to rest. What else do you have to show off about?”

Teacher Xu kept on scolding them while the few of them who were at the side hung their head, losing their morale all at once. Right after he finished lecturing them, Teacher Xu left the scene.

In the end, Wang Haofei gave Yan Liqiang a hatred-filled glare, “I’m the one who Lu Beixin likes. Don’t think so highly of yourself that you can snatch Lu Beixin from me!” Wang Haofei and his men left the place right after he spat that out.

Frankly speaking, this Wang Haofei was indeed a charmer. With his pair of long, strong legs and his handsome appearance, he could easily charm a few girls without any problem. However, the hint of evil intentions in Wang Haofei’s expression when he left completely destroyed his charm. Yan Liqiang couldn’t help but frown.

As soon as these people left, the stare that Shi Dafeng who stood at the side had on Yan Liqiang seemed as though it was glowing. He suddenly burned with the flames of gossip. He grabbed on Yan Liqiang’s shoulder and asked impatiently, ” When did you pass the first level of the basic spear technique? And, what’s going on with that Lu Beixin? You didn’t even tell me that you have a babe now, to think that I have treated you like my brother, how dare you?”

“Certain things are simply too much of an unfathomable mystery that I don’t even know how to say it!” Yan Liqiang shook his head and took a deep breathe, “Let’s go! We should return to the courtyard first....”

...

It had been two months since Yan Liqiang came to the Martial Arts Academy. But Yan Liqiang had not seen Lu Beixin nor any other Lu Clan’s disciples. He had only known about Lu Beixin being grounded by Old Master Lu from the letter Qian Su had sent to him a few days ago.

He realized that Lu Beixin somehow seemed odd when he visited the Lu Residence for the arranged marriage with her last time so he indirectly alerted Lu Peien about it. Lu Peien was also a wise person, after Yan Liqiang’s warning, he quietly sent someone to Pingxi City to secretly investigate and track Lu Beixin down. In the end, they discovered that Lu Beixin was, in fact, seeing someone and that someone whom Lu Beixin was seeing was no other than Lu Clan’s archenemy in Huanglong County, one of Wang Clan’s disciples, Wang Haofei.

Upon receiving such news, Old Master Lu was furious. The Lu Clan’s disciples who were in the Martial Arts Academy were all summoned back to the Lu Residence during summer vacation and were harshly reprimanded. Needless to say, Lu Beixin was grounded in the manor by Old Master Lu and was unable to go anywhere at all. The other Lu Clan’s disciples got dragged into it as well for either not realizing the issue with Lu Beixin while they were in the Martial Arts Academy together or not reporting anything unusual that they had discovered to the Lu Clan in time. They too were grounded and forced to do manual labor work back in the manor at the same time. That was precisely the reason why not even one of the Lu Clan’s disciples were seen in the Martial Arts Academy now.

The one and only reason why Wang Haofei had come to look for trouble with him today, was because he had just found out about the arranged marriage between Lu Beixin and Yan Liqiang which Old Master Lu had set up. Hence, he pinned all his anger on Yan Liqiang and confronted him in rage to vent all his anger on him. But little did Wang Haofei expect that Yan Liqiang was not that easy to handle. He had rounded up a bunch of friends to pick a fight with Yan Liqiang this time but it ended up with them getting their stuffing knocked out.

The fact that Wang Haofei had come to look for trouble with Yan Liqiang today proved that he previously didn’t know what had happened between him and Lu Beixin. And now that he knew, what did it mean? It proved that either the Wang Clan had an insider in the Lu Residence and that insider informed the Wang Clan upon finding out the news, or Wang Haofei and Lu Beixin were still able to communicate. Perhaps the more accurate explanation was that although Lu Beixin had been grounded, she was still able to relay information to Wang Haofei through someone. And the possibility of the latter was reckoned to be slightly higher......

Or perhaps he should inform Sixth Master about this so that he could pay attention to it...

The thought flashed through Yan Liqiang’s mind, but after thorough consideration, Yan Liqiang shook his head and decided to leave it be. The last time he secretly alerted them caused all of the Lu Clan’s disciples to be grounded. If he were to alert them once more, Lu Beixin’s maids would probably be out of luck. Judging from the Lu Clan’s traditions and Old Master Lu’s temper, someone’s life might even be at risk.

When Wang Haofei came to cause trouble with him, he probably didn’t think about the consequences of the informant from Lu Clan who relayed the message to him would suffer due to his rash decision. Or maybe he had thought about it but couldn’t be bothered to care at all. If it was the former, then it proved that this person had no brains. If it was the latter, then it showed that this person had no conscience. No matter which of the two types of person he was, this person would never be worthy of Lu Beixin.

He had no regrets in separating this pair of lovebirds.....

He ran the whole scene from the beginning till the end in his head once more. After he understood the main point in his heart, Yan Liqiang felt relieved when he left the Martial Arts Academy. He descended the mountain and returned to his small courtyard in Blue Ox Alley.

Outside the small courtyard, Yan Dechang, who was travel-worn and covered in snow, stood under the eaves, waiting for Yan Liqiang’s return...

“Father...”

Yan Dechang turned around when he heard Yan Liqiang call out. He then saw Yan Liqiang, who was standing not too far away, staring at him blankly.

Shi Dafeng went off to eat lamb hotpot, so Yan Liqiang returned to the small courtyard he rented alone.

When Yan Liqiang saw Yan Dechang, he hurried towards him and dusted the snow off from Yan Dechang’s cape. “Father, why are you here?”

Yan Dechang looked at Yan Liqiang from top to bottom with a serious look before he broke into a smile. “I happened to deliver some goods to Huanglong County yesterday and thought that it has been cold these few days. Since Huanglong County is quite near to Pingxi City, I decided to come visit you and send you some clothes. I came searching with the address that was on the letter you sent last time... Three Yuan Street, into the Blue Ox Alley, the third courtyard on the left. I didn’t expect to really find it, you live here right?!”

“That’s right, I live here. Father, let me help you take your stuff. Let’s talk inside!” Yan Liqiang took the bag Yan Dechang carried on his back then took out his key, opened the door and led Yan Dechang in.

The courtyard Yan Liqiang lived in wasn’t that big, only about forty or fifty square meters. There was a grape trellis in the yard, a well, and a flower bed. There were some flowers and herbs planted among the flower bed and beneath the grape trellis was a relatively wide space, good enough for practicing martial arts. Although the yard was covered by a layer of piled up snow, one could still tell that the yard was very well kept.

Yan Dechang observed the yard when he came in and secretly nodded to himself. He was greatly relieved when he saw that Yan Liqiang had managed to take very good care of himself. “You’re living here alone?”

“Yes, I live here alone and my friend lives just next door. He can normally hear me if I shout!”

“You train in this yard too?”

“I usually practice martial arts in the basement. Sometimes it’s a little inconvenient in the yard if the movements are too big!” Yan Liqiang led Yan Dechang to the central room and placed his bag down, then scratched his head in embarrassment. “I usually don’t cook here and there’s no drinking water here too. Have a seat and wait for a while, I’ll go boil a pot of water and make some tea for you!”

“No need, no need! I’m just here to look around, you don’t need to serve me anything. You haven’t been slacking on your spear technique cultivation, right?”

“Not at all, those things are all in the basement. Would you like to take a look there?”

“Sure, let’s go see where you normally train!” Yan Dechang was about to sit down but stood up again when he heard Yan Liqiang’s suggestion.

The entrance to the basement was in the central room, below the staircase leading up. Yan Liqiang led Yan Dechang to the basement downstairs through a door.

The basement was about the same size as the yard above the ground. The floor of the basement was paved with rough limestone and the room was more than five meters high. Although it was underground, the basement had windows on two ends that allowed ventilation and daylight to come in. During the day, some light from above the floor could pass through so it wasn’t that dark in here, he’d only need to light a lamp at night.

In the basement, a wooden frame was placed near to a wall. A piece of rope was tied below the frame with some copper coins hanging down from it. Beside the wooden frame, there was a long spear of at least three meters, completely made out of iron.

Beside this wooden frame, there were also a few metal weights used for stamina training. The lightest metal weight was about twenty-three kilograms and the heaviest one was over two hundred kilograms.

After Yan Dechang came in and saw these things, his eyes instantly lit up. He approached the wooden frame, picked up the iron spear and weighed it in his hands. The iron spear was at least more than forty kilograms. He turned his head around and asked Yan Liqiang, “Why are you using an iron spear to train here? The body of this iron spear has no elasticity and is very heavy. Are you able to use it?”

“The importance of this iron spear is its weight. The teacher from the martial arts academy told us to use it to train basic spear techniques!” Yan Liqiang explained and took the iron spear from Yan Dechang’s hands. He then crouched and struck a pose

To hold up such a heavy iron spear single-handedly by its base so steadily, one could imagine the terrifying amount of strength Yan Liqiang had in his arm.

“Not bad, not bad at all!” Yan Dechang nodded his head in satisfaction and then tried out a few metal weights. However, he realized that he only managed to lift a few smaller ones with his current strength. He attempted to lift the other two metal weights that were more than a hundred kilograms and realized that he was unable to. In the end, he could only shake his head and laugh. “I guess I’m really getting old...”

“You just healed from your injuries, you shouldn’t exert too much strength!”

“Can you actually lift the heaviest metal weight?” Yan Dechang asked curiously.

Yan Liqiang put down the iron spear and walked to the heaviest metal weight which weighed two hundred kilograms. Using only one hand, he effortlessly picked up the metal weight then swung his arm, causing the metal weight to flutter by his side. He then switched the metal weight between his hands, flipping it to the front and behind his body, making it appear like a dancing butterfly. Yan Dechang could feel the air from the dancing metal weight blowing directly on the side of his face.

If it wasn’t for his own eyes, Yan Dechang wouldn’t dare believe Yan Liqiang’s strength had already attained such a level. The metal weight was two hundred kilograms, not twenty kilograms! Even if he wasn’t a Martial Warrior, Yan Dechang knew that the strength of his son was simply too astonishing. Yan Liqiang was only fourteen years old and he had no idea how he managed to train his strength. He recalled that his son didn’t seem to have such ridiculous strength before.

Yan Liqiang waved it around for no less than a minute before he stopped and set the metal weight down on the floor lightly, without making any noise. He was only slightly flushed, but his breathing was still very even.

“AMAZING! AMAZING! AMAZING!” Yan Dechang chanted in excitement. “You have definitely improved a lot by coming to this martial arts academy!”

The strength and capability he had now were basically from the huge transformation the Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing Manual had brought upon him, especially his physical strength and other aspect enhancements. Although the things they taught in the martial arts academy were useful, they couldn’t be considered as profound mysteries. It was nothing compared to the Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing Manual.

However, he couldn’t tell Yan Dechang all that. Yan Liqiang could only smile upon hearing his father’s praises and nodded his head. “Father, you are right about that. I have indeed learned a lot since I arrived at the martial arts academy. The teachers of the academy are really awesome too!”

“Seeing you like this has assured me. Let’s return upstairs....” Yan Dechang breathed out a long sigh of relief.

...

Yan Dechang only stayed at Yan Liqiang’s place for a total of less than an hour. He took another look around the small courtyard Yan Liqiang lived in. After inquiring about Yan Liqiang’s daily life, he then left some winter clothes he brought for him along with twenty taels of silver and told him a few things about the blacksmith store before he left. He also adamantly refused Yan Liqiang’s intention to see him off.

Over more than the past two months since Yan Liqiang arrived at the prefectural city, the business of their blacksmith store back at home had also gradually gotten back on track. Although Yan Blades couldn’t create any heavenly weapons, they were known for their products’ quality that was up to the mark and their affordable price tags. The Yan Blades brand had pretty much been established in Qinghe County, Yan Dechang only had to provide some guidance and do quality checks on the final products at the blacksmith store every day. The Yan Clan owned a land, a workshop, a store and also a blacksmith store in Liuhe Town. They had gradually earned a different reputation than before.

One thing that surprised Yan Liqiang was that the kukri knife that he had so meticulously created, shaped like a dog leg, didn’t attract much attention, let alone sold, despite the good business in the blacksmith store.

After Qian Su from the Weaponsmith Quarter saw the kukri knife and learned that it was designed by Yan Liqiang, his interest was piqued so he asked for one to bring back home a while ago so he could play with it. Two days ago, he sent a message to ask the Yan Clan’s blacksmith store deliver a hundred ‘Yan Curved Knife’– the name which was given to the kukri knife by Yan Liqiang, to the Weaponsmiths Quarter of Huanglong County. He told him that the knife was noticed by an officer who came to the Weaponsmiths Quarter to order a long spear. That officer was proficient in knives and thought the kukri knife that Qian Su had with him had a strange but interesting appearance, so he was very interested in it. In the end, he borrowed home the kukri knife from Qian Su to play with it for a few days. Unexpectedly, that officer came back looking for Qian Su a few days later and immediately ordered a hundred ‘Yan Curved Knives’, saying that he was going to give all of those to others as gifts...

Yan Dechang was overjoyed at the sudden ‘big business deal’ which had landed in his lap and personally set out on his steed to deliver the order of those one hundred curved knives to Huanglong County. Since he missed Yan Liqiang, he came to Pingxi City along the way to see how he was doing.

...

After seeing Yan Dechang off with complex emotions, Yan Liqiang composed himself and got changed before he set off to the Military Governor’s Office...

Being the bodyguard to the Military Governor was nothing more than a job to Yan Liqiang, which included walking and feeding steeds.

Huangfu Qianqi already had a horsekeeper. Hence, every time Yan Liqiang visited the Military Governor’s Office, the attitude of the horsekeeper towards Yan Liqiang immediately reminded him of the scene where Sun Wukong was assigned as the Protector of the Horses to watch over the stable [1].

However, Yan Liqiang wasn’t some delicate boy either. Following the principle of ‘how a man may find instructors for himself’ [2], he was always polite to that horsekeeper every time he saw him. He wasn’t ashamed to ask and learn from his subordinate too. In just these two months of being a bodyguard, Yan Liqiang had managed to learn most of the skills needed to take care of rhinodrake steeds from that horsekeeper. That in itself could be considered as quite an achievement.

The last time Yan Liqiang saw Huangfu Qianqi was the previous month. Every year, after early autumn, was the time when the Dark Ram Tribe’s cavalry caused the most incidents at the border of Gan Province and Feng Province, but the people of Dark Ram Tribe called it a ‘food hunt’ [3]. There was news that the extent of the disturbances that the Dark Ram Tribe had been causing was increasing. So when Huangfu Qianqi saw the weather had gradually started turning cold last month, he went on a patrol to White Stone Pass in the western part of Pingxi Prefecture, bringing along with him a few bodyguards and a group of cavalry.

The outskirts of White Stone Pass was close to Vast Cloud Mountain. Although there was no common boundary between the Dark Ram Tribe and Pingxi Prefecture and the number of disturbances from the Dark Ram Tribe over this period of time were few enough to be counted with just a hand, Huangfu Qianqi was still quite concerned. Since it was his duty, he could only personally take a trip there to check up on things.

Due to the fact that Yan Liqiang still had to attend martial arts academy, Huangfu Qianqi had a meeting with him before he left. He gave him some encouragement and had him stay back in the end.

Huangfu Qianqi had four rhinodrake steeds. During his trip this time, Huangfu Qianqi brought two along with him, leaving the remaining two in Pingxi City. Therefore, Yan Liqiang still had to visit the Military Governor’s Office once a week as always to take care of Huangfu Qianqi’s two other rhinodrake steeds.

“Since it was snowing last night, we will need to lay some hay in the stable today to keep the ground dry and clean so the rhinodrake steeds can sleep better. Ordinary horses sleep while standing. Rhinodrake steeds usually do the same too, but on cold days, they will lay down and sleep with their feet curled up like a rhinoceros. Close all the windows you can in the stable. If it snows heavily tonight, feed every rhinodrake steed about half a jin of small black beans soaked in white wine during night feeding. That way, the rhinodrake steeds won’t thin down over the winter and remain full of energy everyday...”

In the stable of Military Governor’s Office, Yan Liqiang was cleaning up together with the horsekeeper. They dressed the floor of the rhinodrake steed’s stables in dried rice straw and filled the feeder with their dinner. They then brushed the two rhinodrake steeds until they were shiny and smooth. The horsekeeper explained while working with Yan Liqiang, passing his knowledge on feeding the steeds to him.

Yan Liqiang dusted his hands when they were finally done with the two rhinodrake steeds and went to the pond at the side to wash his hands. He then took off the overalls he wore when he was doing all the manual work. “Uncle Hu, I’ll be calling it a day and going home. I’ll come again in a few days. Until then, please take care of this place!”

“No trouble at all...” The horsekeeper, Uncle Hu, gave him a sincere smile. “I have to thank Young Master for the beef and wine you gave me today. They must have been frightfully expensive!”

“Hahaha. It would have been improper of me to come empty-handed when Uncle Hu is imparting your valuable knowledge on feeding the horses with me. I’ll bring some better wine for Uncle Hu next time!”

“Young Master, you will definitely have a very promising future ahead of you if you follow the footsteps of the Military Governor...”

“Haha, thank you for your kind words, Uncle Hu...”

Yan Liqiang exited the Military Governor’s Office through the side door after bidding farewell to the horsekeeper. By now, the sky was already getting dark, but it was still snowing and the temperature seemed to be even colder compared to the daytime. The number of pedestrians on the streets had reduced considerably and quite a number of shops by the street had already closed. Only a few places like restaurants, eateries, and taverns were still open. The lanterns that still hung outside the shops made one felt a lot warmer on such a cold night.

Snowflakes drifted down from the sky, right into the collar of Yan Liqiang’s clothes. The iciness jolted Yan Liqiang wide awake all of a sudden.

Yan Liqiang pulled the dog fur hat onto his head and wrapped the scarf around his neck another couple of rounds, leaving only half of his face exposed. He took a glance at the streets on either side. During the daytime, the streets still had people pulling their rickshaws, but now not even one of them could be seen. There weren’t any pedestrians either. He figured he was only left with the options of walking back to Three Yuan Street.

Fortunately, it wasn’t that far walking in the Pingxi City. It would take only a little more than an hour at most for him to walk back to his home.

Yan Liqiang walked along the streets at an unhurried pace in the direction of his small courtyard.

...

After half an hour, the sky was completely dark and Yan Liqiang was already very far away from the Military Governor’s Office.

For the sake of returning home a bit earlier, Yan Liqiang took the shortcuts he rarely used. They were the smaller streets and alleys around residential areas aside from those few bigger streets in the Pingxi City.

As soon as Yan Liqiang had just passed through the small alley within the commercial area, he heard a horse carriage coming from behind him and automatically moved aside to give way to it.

The horse carriage passed by Yan Liqiang without stopping, as it continued moving forward to its destination.

Yan Liqiang took a glance at the horse carriage. It was quite old with a rather long carriage. It seemed like it was a wagon for transporting goods and a coachman was seated in front, speeding it up with the whip he was waving in his hand. He didn’t notice Yan Liqiang who was walking by the roadside in the blowing wind and snow either.

There was a small restaurant right ahead of the road. The row of lanterns hanging outside brightly illuminated the road outside of the restaurant. Yan Liqiang who was trailing behind the horse carriage abruptly stopped dead in his tracks when he felt stabbing pains from the piercing light and stared at the retreating silhouette of the coachman.

Right at that moment, he caught a fleeting glimpse of that coachman’s silhouette under the light of those lanterns hanging outside the restaurant. Just very briefly, he could clearly make out the silhouette at the back of that coachman’s head.

The coachman was also wearing a dog fur hat and a very thick cotton-padded coat. However, part of the coachman’s skin was showing in-between his hat and his coat.

The coachman had lost his right ear, the side of his hat laid flat against his face. A snake-like scar which hadn’t faded yet could still be seen on the few inches of exposed skin on his neck, around the area right below where his ear was supposed to be.

This coachman with a missing ear and sporting a scar on his neck... Wasn’t he the Shatu man who had lost his ear from being whipped by Yan Liqiang that day at the entrance gate?

Although he didn’t see the face of that coachman, with that person’s missing ear and the scar on his neck, there was no way he could make a mistake about it.

That Shatu man wasn’t wearing their normal attire right now, but was instead dressed in Chinese attire and had covered himself tightly. For him to be driving a horse carriage out this late at night to a district that was so far from where the other Shatu people lived in was nothing but fishy.

The first thing that came to Yan Liqiang’s mind was if this was a trap. On a second thought, he decided to deny that thought. That was because he was using a shortcut today and he had decided his most of the routes he took spontaneously. Even if these Shatu people knew he was going to leave the Military Governor’s Office today, they wouldn’t be able to predict which road he was going to take and set a trap in advance to wait for him.

The horse carriage drove past about fifty meters away from the small restaurant, then took a turn to the left, into another road at the side.

After a few ideas flashed rapidly across Yan Liqiang’s mind, he increased his pace and lightened his footsteps to exhibit the ‘Nine Palace Wind Shadow Steps’ technique. Very swiftly and silently, he made his way to where the horse carriage had taken a turn and chased after it...

The sounds of iron hooves could be heard very clearly in the silent night despite it was very far from Yan Liqiang. Yan Liqiang didn’t follow too closely, he only listened to the noises the horse carriage made and trailed behind it, passing through a few alleys of Pingxi City while keeping a distance between them.

That horse carriage seemed to take a few detours on purpose. Yan Liqiang realized that it had made another two small rounds, seemingly wanted to see if there was anyone following behind it. But in the end, Yan Liqiang was never discovered. Such sneaky behavior had piqued Yan Liqiang’s curiosity even more.

More than twenty minutes later, the horse carriage made a turn into a small alley behind the main street then stopped at the back door of a courtyard.

This area seemed to be in an upscale part of Pingxi City, filled with mansions and courtyards of influential clans. Every single of them was surrounded by very high walls and red-lacquered gates that were obviously distinctive from other common buildings.

The courtyard was enormous, the double-courtyard residence at the front faced the street across of it. There were stores somewhere along the street. From the look of the signboard, it seemed to be one of the finest boutiques in Pingxi City. However, at this time, the boutique had already closed for the day just like the rest.

It was pitch black in the alley and the visibility was very low.

Trailing behind the horse carriage, Yan Liqiang arrived at a turn in the alley. He looked around and realized that there was a courtyard beside him. There were neither lights nor any voices in the yard. He leaped and kicked against one of the walls in the small alley with his foot and hooked onto the top of the courtyard wall two meters high with one of his hands. He then exerted force in his hand and climbed on top of the courtyard wall and tread along it a few steps before he jumped onto one of the roofs. He bent down and scurried like a cat on the roof before hopping onto another and laid flat on his stomach against the roof tiles behind the roof ridge. He peeked his head out and silently watched the situation in the small alley.

That horse carriage was somewhere below him at the eleven o’clock position, just thirty meters away from the roof where Yan Liqiang was lying on his stomach. He had chosen this spot because he could have an overlook of everything happening in the small alley below him.

Half of that Shatu man’s face who had rushed here with his horse carriage was hidden by his hat, leaving only his eyes exposed. After stopping his carriage, he climbed down and took another look around, appearing to be very cautious. After making sure that there was no one else in the alley, he went towards the back door of that courtyard and banged on the door with the door knocker.

The Shatu man knocked a series of times. It sounded like there was some sort of rhythm to it – two short knocks and two long knocks, just like a secret code.

After he was done knocking, he waited by the door.

Not more than ten seconds later, a lantern lit up in the rear courtyard. A man in his thirties came out from a room nearby with his other two servants, carrying the lantern along with him. They came to the small door in the backyard then cracked the door open first to take a peek outside. They only opened the door and came out when they saw the Shatu man.

The shop owner who came out from the boutique leaned his head close to the Shatu man and they exchanged a few words. But since their voices were too soft and Yan Liqiang was so far away from them, he couldn’t catch a word of their conversation.

After they had finished speaking, the Shatu man opened the horse carriage door and beckoned to the shop owner. One of the two servants that came out along with him hopped onto the carriage and dragged out a big roll of beast leather from inside and then carried it with the help of another servant to a room in the textile courtyard.

The two servants came out again and carried another big roll of beast leather from the carriage to one of the rooms in the courtyard.

After that, the Shatu man closed the carriage door and left on his horse carriage without any further delay. The man who looked like the shop owner took another look around before he went back inside the courtyard and shut the back door.

In a glance, that Shatu man seemed to be just delivering goods to this boutique. It looked like it was a normal business trade and there wasn’t anything odd about it. However, Yan Liqiang still felt something was off.

First of all, both parties were being a little too sneaky and seemed like they were up to no good. Secondly, he couldn’t stop feeling that the Shatu man wasn’t a good and honest person who would just earn some money as a mere coachman. Also, when he left just now, the person who looked like the shop owner didn’t give him any money either. Lastly, Yan Liqiang couldn’t shake off the feeling that was something fishy about those two rolls of leather which the two servants from that boutique had carried into the textile courtyard.

Under normal circumstances, if those two rolls were just normal leather, the two servants would be able to carry each by themselves. Yet, just now when those two servants took the goods in, they had to lift them together. From an aerial view, the two rolls of beast leather appeared to be hollow in the middle with leather wrappings around it. Yet from the looks of their weight, something already seemed off. Furthermore, the two servants seemed to be extra cautious when they were carrying those rough leather. It didn’t seem like they were carrying beast leather at all.

The Shatu man drove his empty horse carriage away and left through the alley below Yan Liqiang. Yan Liqiang considered for a moment before he decided to stay instead of leaving with the horse carriage. When that horse carriage had traveled far enough, Yan Liqiang slowly slid down from the roof, and tread along the courtyard wall until he arrived at a small alley. There, he bolted towards the courtyard wall of the yard behind that boutique.

Yan Liqiang adjusted the hat on his head and pulled his scarf up so that his face would be completely covered. He then exerted some force beneath his feet and stepped on the wall a few times to climb to the top of the wall in a flash. He hung onto the courtyard wall with his hands and lowered himself quietly into the yard. It seemed like the secret manual ‘Nine Palace Wind Shadow Steps’, which Qian Su had given to him had come in handy at times like this.

The lamp inside the house was still brightly lit. The shop owner, his two servants and the two rolls of goods were in there.

Yan Liqiang tiptoed to below one of the room’s windows. Just like a very common scene in Chinese movies, he wet a finger with his saliva then gently poked a small hole through the paper screen that was glued to the window frame in the lowest corner. He then leaned his head forward to observe the situation inside the room.

This room seemed to be used to store leather goods. It was filled with quite a number of tiger, bear, leopard, and fox leather. There were also some dazzling mink. All of them were displayed on a rack.

The goods that the Shatu man had just delivered seemed to be two big rolls of antelope leather and were placed on the floor. The shop owner stood at the side as he commanded his two servants to cut the ropes tied around the two rolls of antelope leather and unrolled the leather.

It didn’t take too long before one of the goods was spread open, and Yan Liqiang felt his heart suddenly convulse.

What he saw was a young lady of about seventeen or eighteen years old wrapped inside the antelope leather. When the leather was spread, she lay there on the floor.

That lady seemed to have lost consciousness. Her hair was quite messy and from her attire, she was most likely a Chinese girl from Pingxi City. Not only that, she had a rather beautiful face.

The other roll of leather was spread open, revealing a younger lady of about fourteen or fifteen years old, also similarly Chinese. Both ladies were unconscious.

One of the servants gulped loudly. He pinched the younger lady on her cheek then started to chuckle lecherously. “Owner, the goods that those Shatu people delivered this time are quite fine. These are so much better than the last time and they seem to be quite young. Young Master wasn’t too pleased with the last one. He only managed to play with her a day before she died. I’m sure he can have fun for a few more days with these two...”

“If you value your life then retract your dirty paw and stop your nonsense. A woman of such caliber isn’t someone you can play with. You won’t be able to bear the consequences if she loses even a strand of hair. Hurry and send them over. The young master is still waiting!” The owner sternly ordered and pushed the rack that had a tiger leather hanging on it to the side, revealing a hole in the floor.

“Alright, alright...” The servant who was chuckling lecherously earlier stood up, then together with the other servant brought over two huge wooden boxes. They placed both of the girls in each box and put a lid over them. Both of them then carried one of the boxes together and went into the tunnel entrance that had been revealed.

After both of them went off, the shop owner opened the other box instead and greedily stared at the woman inside it. He reached his hand into the box and fondled her body for a while. After four or five minutes later, footsteps were heard from the tunnel below. The shop owner swallowed his saliva and muttered to himself with a sigh. “Such a pity. Tragedy loves beauties...” He only retracted his hand and closed the box again after he finished speaking.

His two servants reappeared from the hole in the ground and carried the other box into the underground tunnel again.

Yan Liqiang’s hands curled into tight fists upon hearing those words. A murderous intent surged within him and his blood was already boiling. There was nothing he despised more than human trafficking in his previous life. In his opinion, a human trafficker caused even more harm than a drug dealer. He didn’t expect to run into an incident like this. From the tone of the shop owner and his servants, he guessed that the girls who had been sent into the underground tunnel would most likely meet a tragic end...

Thinking up to this point, Yan Liqiang’s heart immediately turned cold...

The more furious Yan Liqiang was, the calmer he became.

After careful consideration, he didn’t barge in there hastily. Instead, he retreated away from the window of the room and observed his surroundings before he made a dash towards the front of the yard.

Two rooms were still brightly lit in the yard. Yan Liqiang took a look around but found out that there was no one in both rooms. One of the rooms seemed to be the bedroom of the two servants from earlier, while the other room was a sewing workroom.

Various clothes were hung inside the sewing workroom and there were also a variety of fabric cutouts in the room. The shop owner had come out from this room earlier.

Yan Liqiang was the type to go all the way once he started something. He immediately went inside the room, picked up the candle in the room and set a few dresses and long gowns ablaze. He then tossed the candle into a pile of fabric and dashed out of the room. He quickly went back to the outside of the other room and waited at the door then pulled out the kukri knife he had on him.

Lately, Yan Liqiang always carried a weapon on him whenever he visited the Military Governor’s Office, in case the Shatu people decided to take a revenge on him. As they say, preparation can avert peril. His kukri knife wasn’t that long, and he kept it sheathed in a cow leather scabbard and hung it on his belt. The scabbard pressed against the side of his thigh, completely hidden as long as he didn’t lift his clothes up.

Holding the kukri knife, Yan Liqiang slowed his breathing and calmly waited.

The room door was locked from the inside. He would cause a big commotion if he went in by breaking either the door or window. Moreover, he didn’t have a clue on the shop owner’s strength, therefore, the best method he could think of was to lure the shop owner out and finish him. The fire he started was also to notify everyone in the surroundings that there was a problem here. The more people that gathered here later, the safer he would be, and the scandal of that person here could be exposed easily.

The workroom, which was not too far from here, was filled with piles of very flammable clothes and fabrics. Hence, the flames in the room grew intense in just less than two minutes.

The light of the flames reached to the other room through the windows. When the shop owner in the other room sensed something was wrong, he hurried to the door and opened it, then cautiously poked his head out to observe the situation outside.

Unfortunately, what awaited the shop owner was the kukri knife in Yan Liqiang’s hands.

According to the laws of the Great Han Empire, human trafficking was considered thievery. Anyone had the right to kill such criminals without being charged by the law. Yan Liqiang had no mercy towards these wicked scoundrels and bastards who colluded with foreigners to devastate the lives of innocent Chinese girls.

His kukri knife came down sharply upon the neck of the shop owner. Before he could even react, his head had tumbled to the floor before his entire body followed suit. Blood from the severed neck flowed like a river, staining the floor crimson.

When Yan Liqiang saw chickens or pigs being butchered at the market, perhaps he might have felt sorry for them. Yet to people like this, he had not even an ounce of sympathy.

Ever since the time he eliminated the Hong Clan, Yan Liqiang realized that darkness and ruthlessness existed deep down in his heart. He didn’t feel fear at all decapitating someone with his own hands. Instead, he only took an icy glance at the corpse lying on the floor, before he stepped over it to open the door, and went inside the room.

The moment he arrived at the entrance of the underground tunnel inside the room, the footsteps of the two servants rang out from below.

Yan Liqiang didn’t rush downstairs but instead moved somewhere else. He waited at the spot behind the tunnel entrance on the ground. When the two people came up from below, the back of their heads would be facing him.

Soon enough, the footsteps drew nearer and as expected, the two servants emerged from below.

When the second person came out from the underground tunnel, the person in front of him had already noticed that the room door was open and had spotted the corpse of the shop owner lying on the floor outside the entrance.

However, Yan Liqiang didn’t give both of them any time to react. He instantly pounced on them from behind and plunged his knife into the back of the servant behind, piercing it through his heart. Before the first servant could even turn around, Yan Liqiang pounced on him like a leopard and slit his throat.

As the saying goes, ‘It is easier to dodge a spear out in the open than to avoid a stab in the dark’. In this situation where he was prepared to ambush them and his targets were unwary, even if those two servants had some skills, Yan Liqiang didn’t give them a chance to show it to him. In just the blink of an eye, the two servants collapsed at the underground tunnel entrance.

Yan Liqiang just had murdered three people in a row. The kukri knife in his hand was already fully coated with fresh blood by now. However, the hand he held the knife with didn’t tremble in the slightest.

He wiped the blood away from his knife on one of the servants’ clothes. Without a second thought, he entered the underground tunnel and followed the stairs to wherever it led.

The underground tunnel reached five meters below the ground and was very well constructed, with bricks lining up both sides. The tunnel was about a meter wide and two meters in height. An oil lamp hung seven or eight meters apart from each other on either side of the tunnel wall.

The entire underground tunnel was linear and deep. Two hundred meters ahead in Yan Liqiang’s line of sight, there was a turn which led somewhere.

Yan Liqiang clenched his jaws and made a dash to the other end of the tunnel. He ran for about two hundred meters and reached the turn. In another ten meters ahead after the turn, he saw an iron door which had just been shut.

An idea flashed through his mind. Without a second thought, Yan Liqiang banged against the iron door with force.

“What’s with you all? Didn’t you guys tell me there are only two chicks? They’re already here! Is there a third one?” An impatient voice rang out from the other side of the iron door. Right after this voice spoke, the iron door which had just been shut, subsequently opened in an instant.

A man in his thirties, fully dressed in black with an indolent look, stared in shock at Yan Liqiang’s unfamiliar and bloodthirsty face.

Before the man could reach towards the longsword that hung at his waist, Yan Liqiang had violently plunged his kukri knife into his chest.

Yan Liqiang’s other hand covered the man’s mouth, preventing him from making any noise and pushed him back towards the inside of the door.

The man’s eyes widened like saucers. One of his hands had already touched the sword’s hilt while his other hand grabbed onto Yan Liqiang’s wrist tightly, trying to push away the hand that covered his mouth.

Yan Liqiang gave him a death stare and pulled out the kukri knife from his chest before he forcefully plunged it into him again. Almost every time the man took a step back, he felt Yan Liqiang’s kukri knife sinking in and coming out of him between his chest and lower abdomen.

The man stumbled five consecutive steps backward. He didn’t manage to even pull the longsword at his waist by a foot when blood gushed out from his mouth, all over Yan Liqiang’s hand. The hand he grabbed Yan Liqiang’s wrist with gradually ran out of strength and the eyes he stared at Yan Liqiang with slowly turned glassy before he collapsed on the floor in a heap. Half of his body was already soaked in the blood that flowed out from between his chest and abdomen...

Yan Liqiang panted heavily for more than ten seconds as he watched that man slump to the floor before his breathing evened out. Then, he slowly walked to the front.

This basement was like a palace. Thick camel fur rugs were laid on the floor. Both sides of the tunnel were decorated with lavish wall candle holders made of silver and even the surrounding walls were decorated with gold and silver borders. There were also various weapons that were hanging on the wall as ornaments. Walking along this tunnel didn’t feel like he was walking into the devils’ lair, but instead, it felt like he had just wandered into a high-class clubhouse.

Yan Liqiang’s heart raced even more wildly upon arriving at this area because he knew that people who were able to decorate such lavish basement were definitely not merely your average rich people. It seemed like the party he had provoked this time was of a different caliber. When he just entered the basement earlier, he thought it was some sort of dungeon. Even if there were people here, there would be only a few of them and he thought that he would be able to rescue those two girls by coming here. Little did he expect that the underground tunnel would actually lead to a place like this.

Judging from his current position, he was most likely right below the grand mansion with a big courtyard near the boutique.

In that exact moment, a warning flashed across Yan Liqiang’s mind – this place was too dangerous. It wasn’t a place he could handle by himself. It would be wisest for him to retreat for now and call for reliable backup later.

Just when that idea rose from Yan Liqiang’s mind, he suddenly spotted a Horned Python Bow hanging on the wall.

That Horned Python Bow was a lot more gorgeous than the one that Zhou Yong had given to him. Its azure frame was exuding an exotically beautiful. The bow was hanging on a bow rack on the wall, with a quiver of arrows next to it.

When Yan Liqiang laid his eyes on this bow, he couldn’t help but mutter under his breath that it seemed like lady luck was on his side after all.

To Yan Liqiang, the disparity in his battle strength between having no bow and a bow in his hands was ten folds apart. Seeing that Horned Python Bow was akin to seeing a powerful assistant for Yan Liqiang. He neared the wall and quickly plucked that Horned Python Bow off it. He felt the Horned Python Bow with his hands and realized that this one was sturdier than his own. It was probably a powerful bow of six piculs. At a time like this, a six-picul powerful bow was exactly what Yan Liqiang needed.

A quiver of arrows was next to this Horned Python Bow. At the first glance, Yan Liqiang discovered that there were exactly thirty-six arrows in it. The quiver that held the arrows was made out of high-quality deerskin specially made for archers. There was also a special belt for archers on its side. Beside the belt was a gleaming shortsword that was suitable for archers.

Yan Liqiang wasn’t going to be shy now that he had spotted these babies. After he sheathed his kukri knife into the scabbard at the side of his thigh, he instantly equipped the new weapons as fast as possible.

Perhaps the owner of these weapons left them here display purposes or for show only. If that person knew Yan Liqiang had already equipped them on him, he’d definitely regret leaving them here.

Different sets of armor were hung on the wall as decoration. If it were possible, Yan Liqiang desperately wished he could wear all these ten armor suits. However, at this moment, they weren’t something he could put on by himself. So Yan Liqiang had no choice but to give up on the idea of wearing the armor. He only took down the breastplate from the wall and strapped it in front of his chest.

After doing all this, Yan Liqiang mustered up his courage, took up the bow, nocked an arrow, and made his way deeper inside.

The passage was extremely quiet, without even a single soul in sight. Walking on the thick carpet, Yan Liqiang’s footsteps were silent. Due to such silence in the surroundings, the voices in a distance could be heard very clearly.

“Is that Yan Liqiang really this impressive? He’s just a new student in the martial arts academy...”

The voice came from somewhere ahead of the passage. When Yan Liqiang heard the voice, he wondered if his ears were playing a trick on him. How could someone be talking about him in this kind of place?

Yet almost instantly, another voice rang out and Yan Liqiang was able to confirm that he wasn’t imagining the whole thing.

“An academy tutor who teaches the spear technique at the martial arts academy told us personally that Yan Liqiang’s basic spear technique is about to pass the second level!” Yan Liqiang had heard this voice in the morning. It was Wang Haofei, who had blocked his way along with a few others. Compared to the arrogant bully he was this morning, Wang Haofei’s voice was filled with cautious flattery at this very moment. “Young Master Ye ought to know that person with surname Xu is a simpleton, he’s not going to deceive us at a time like this. I believe Young Master Ye has met Qu Long before too. His strength and fist technique can be considered the best among us. Even Qu Long was sent flying by Yan Liqiang with a single punch when they competed with their fists. His knuckles are still swelling while Yan Liqiang seems to be perfectly fine...”

While Wang Haofei was speaking, Yan Liqiang had already made his way to the outside of that room.

There seemed to be a large bath inside the room. Steam was rolling out from the inside and the sound of movements in running water could be heard.

Yan Liqiang stood right outside the room, eavesdropping in on the conversation of the two people in the room.

“That Yan Liqiang is nothing but a country bumpkin from Qinghe County. He isn’t even apprenticed to any master. How can he be that impressive? Can it be that he has some sort of secret manual technique on him?”

“That I have no idea. I’ve asked around about this person. He only had a small reputation back in Liuhe Town before the Martial Arts Examination. Within the entire county of Qinghe, not many have heard of him. He had only emerged as a new force to be reckoned with during the Martial Arts Examination, shocking everyone. However, prior to the Martial Arts Examination, this guy had already done something shocking in Huanglong County. I believe I have mentioned this to Young Master Ye before. It was about rescuing the drowned through the method of performing moxibustion on their navels. It was rumored that this method originated from Yan Liqiang.”

“Oh, now I recall you mentioned this incident to me before. I heard that the method has saved quite a number of lives in your Huanglong County this year and it has already spread all the way to Pingxi City?”

“That’s right!”

“Do you know who passed that life-saving method to him?”

“It’s quite an unusual tale in Huanglong County. People said the method was imparted to Yan Liqiang by some God in his dreams...”

“Tsk, who believes in God nowadays?” That man who was named Young Master Ye snorted disdainfully. “If there were really Gods in this world, why didn’t they go claim a throne for themselves or establish some sects instead of encountering by that Yan Liqiang of all people? This is obviously a lie that is good enough to fool only his fellow country bumpkins!”

“My thoughts exactly!” Wang Haofei agreed, trying to ingratiate himself with Young Master Ye. “Yan Liqiang must have learned that from someone else or perhaps he have got some inheritance. Otherwise, there’s no way a country bumpkin like him would able to advance by leaps and bounds in such a short time. I’m guessing he has some secret manual or treasure with him but wouldn’t tell anyone about it. However, I’m guessing his father will definitely know...”

“So, you looked for me in such a hurry this morning and asked me to send someone to capture his father because you wanted to make a move, starting with his father?”

Standing on the other side of the bathroom door while listening in on the conversation between the two people and the running water in the bathroom, Yan Liqiang’s body froze. He didn’t expect his father, who had just visited him today in the Pingxi City, to have actually been captured by someone else after parting with him.

Yan Liqiang tightly grasped the Horned Python Bow in his hands as his entire body quivered in anger. He wished so badly to turn around and barge in there to f*ck those two up inside. Yet his rational side was preventing him from taking such reckless actions in the heat of the moment. It would be wiser for him to gather more information from the mouths of these two people before making his decision on the best course of action.

Yan Liqiang’s body froze like a statue on the other side of that bathroom door while he motionlessly continued to eavesdrop on the ongoing conversation inside.

“My little idea isn’t nothing compared to Young Master Ye’s.” Wang Haofei chuckled mischievously, “I think if Yan Liqiang has any secrets, his father will most likely know. I heard that Yan Liqiang is a very filial son. He and his father relied upon one another for survival since youth. If Young Master Ye has Yan Dechang in your hands, you don’t need to worry about Yan Liqiang refusing to submit obediently. Even if he has no valuable secret manuals on him, you can at least make him obey your orders...”

“That’s right. That’s why we must lead an ox by the halter. Everyone has their own weaknesses. Since Yan Liqiang isn’t easy to deal with, to have his weakness in our hands would be the best way to force him into submission. Wait till I take good care of the Law Enforcement Office tomorrow so they will indict Yan Dechang with a few more criminal charges. In the future, the father and son can’t even meet one another without approval from me!”

“I have no idea if that old geezer from Lu Clan is senile already. He actually wholeheartedly wished to pair Lu Beixin up with Yan Liqiang right after meeting him for the first time!” Wang Haofei pointedly said, “As long as Young Master Ye can get Yan Liqiang to submit, there will be no problems if you wish to get Lu Beixin through him...”

“I wasn’t that angry until you mentioned Lu Beixin. You’re simply useless! You’re pretty good when it comes to dealing with other women so why are you acting so slow when it comes to Lu Beixin? You’ve been with Lu Beixin for so long, yet you cannot even seize an opportunity to get things done! Now, the hen has flown away and the eggs in the coop are broken [1]. Lu Beixin’s father has grounded her. It’ll be difficult for you to even see her from now on. What am I supposed to do about that?”

“Yes, yes, yes. Young Master Ye is right. I will definitely think of a way to help Young Master Ye get Lu Beixin by your side!” Wang Feihao smiled shamelessly.

Upon hearing the words exchanged between the two, Yan Liqiang found out that there was an ulterior motive behind Wang Haofei’s courting of Lu Beixin. Furthermore, the motive actually turned out to be something so filthy, ugly, and simply nauseating. Wang Haofei wasn’t in love with Lu Beixin. He only wanted to send Lu Beixin to this so-called Young Master Ye’s bed. He wondered what Lu Beixin would think if she found out about this side of Wang Haofei.

“When Lu Beixin came to Pingxi City for the first time, she had a pretty bad impression of me after only meeting me once. I couldn’t get close to her so I have to send you out. If that woman wasn’t from the Lu Clan without so many people watching her, I would have sent someone to tie her up long ago. That woman has already passed the Horse Stance stage and is a virgin on top of that – both her appearance and figure are top notch. She will be a good candidate as the cauldron [2] to my cultivation. One Lu Beixin is better than ten ordinary women. As long as I can refine that woman’s primordial Yin, I’m sure I will be able to establish my Dantian and thus successfully establish my foundation...”

“That’s for sure. With Young Master Ye’s aptitude, you will definitely advance as a Martial Warrior in the future!”

“Goddammit, I didn’t think that it would be this difficult to pass the Establishing Dantian foundation stage after losing my virginity a long time ago. If I knew things would turn out this way, I wouldn’t be banging those maids back home. Even consuming the Foundation Establishment Pill that I obtained with great difficulty after all these years didn’t help. In the end, I have to resort to relying on women to establish my foundation. But don’t worry, as long as I can advance as a Martial Warrior, my father’s position will naturally be passed down to me. When that time comes, I will be holding the Prefectural Governor’s title and Huanglong County will naturally be granted to your Wang Clan...”

“Then I shall thank Young Master Ye!”

“No need to thank me. It’s only natural for you to receive some benefits for helping me. When those two wake up after a while, I will deflower them. After that, you may pick one to play with a few days. The two women this time are a lot better than the ones that the Shatu people delivered last time...”

“Hehehe. Young Master Ye can grasp Yin Yang with the joyous, seductive technique and be able to use women to establish a foundation. Such enjoyment is yearned by many...”

“Hahaha, the experiences are indeed simply too wonderful for words. Those Shatu people seemed to have really put their utmost effort in doing this. It seems like the favors my clan has given them have not been in vain. Oh yes, speaking of the Shatu people, I suddenly recalled something. When Yan Liqiang first arrived at Pingxi City, he was involved in some drama with those Shatu people and that nearly destroyed the business deals we had with them. Now that his father is in my hands, if he refuses to listen to orders, I will hand his father over to the Shatu or let them find a woman to claim that she was raped by Yan Liqiang’s father. Let’s see if Yan Liqiang will kneel down when that time comes...”

Listening up to this point, Yan Liqiang felt as if there was a volcano simmering in his chest, about to erupt.

He finally could identify this Young Master Ye. The surname of the Prefectural Governor of Pingxi Prefecture was Ye. This Young Master Ye was undoubtedly the son of Pingxi Prefecture’s Prefectural Governor.

While Yan Liqiang was attentively listening by the bathroom door, a man in his forties suddenly came out from somewhere about twenty meters away, in the opposite direction of this bathroom door.

That person walked on the thick carpet, and the sounds of his footsteps were also muffled like Yan Liqiang’s just now. He turned around and saw Yan Liqiang standing by the bathroom door in a single glance. Yan Liqiang also spotted him at the same time.

“WHO...” that person shouted. Before he could dash towards the area, an arrow had already flown into his mouth and penetrated the back of his head. The man was sent flying with an arrow before he landed heavily on his back.

Naturally, the commotion outside had alerted those on the inside. Splashing noises could be heard in the bath.

Yan Liqiang barged into the bathroom without a second thought.

A screen faced the entrance. Behind the screen was a steamy, gorgeous, large bath of about forty square meters.

There was steam in the bath, but it wasn’t thick enough to affect visibility.

When Yan Liqiang barged in there, he saw two naked men. They had already rushed to the side of the pool, looking for clothes to put on.

Yan Liqiang released an arrow...

“AHHHH!!!” Young Master Ye, who was about to retrieve his clothes, let out a blood-curdling scream. His palm, which had just barely touched his clothes, was nailed to the clothes rack by the arrow that Yan Liqiang released. Fresh blood instantly splattered everywhere. His yell was akin to that of a pig that was about to be butchered.

“DO NOT MOVE!” Yan Liqiang bellowed in rage as the second arrow was knocked onto the bow with lightning speed before he aimed it at Wang Haofei.

Wang Haofei froze butt-naked while he stood by the side of the pool. Either water droplets or beads of sweat rolled down his forehead.

“How did you know that my father came to see me today?” Yan Liqiang shouted his question in an icy tone.

“Y-Your father...” Wang Haofei was tongue-tied, he wasn’t able to react in time.

Yan Liqiang suddenly remembered that his face was still covered by the scarf around his neck right now. No wonder Wang Haofei couldn’t tell who he was. With a finger, he pulled down the scarf that was covering his face and stared at Wang Haofei icily.

“You’re Yan Liqiang...!” Wang Haofei exclaimed in shock, as if he had just been electrocuted by high voltage. His entire body trembled.

“You haven’t answered my question. I shall count to three. If you refuse to answer, this arrow will claim your life.”

“I’ll tell, I’ll tell...!” At this moment, with Yan Liqiang aiming his bow and arrow while he was naked and seeing how he dared to even shoot Young Master Ye just now, Wang Haofei fostered no doubts towards Yan Liqiang’s words. “It was Qi Donglai... Qi Donglai who came to tell me...”

“How do you know Qi Donglai?”

“I knew Qi Donglai when he was still in Qinghe County. His uncle works for our clan, the Wang Clan. I knew that Qi Donglai knew you before, so I have him keep a close watch over you. He has also seen your father. When your father came today, he saw him and informed me...”

So that was the story. Seeing that Wang Haofei was done speaking, Yan Liqiang’s hand slacked and the arrow flew out like lightning, embedding itself directly in Wang Haofei’s chest...

Wang Haofei’s eyes turned bloodshot in an instant. He lowered his head to look at the arrow in his chest, and then looked at Yan Liqiang who was looking at him with a frosty gaze. “B-But you said...”

“I said I would claim your life if you don’t tell me. But even if you did tell me, I still want your life!” Yan Liqiang replied icily.

Wang Haofei spurted out a mouthful of blood after hearing his words. Then he fell backward into the piping hot bath, dying the water in the bath crimson.

At this moment, a set of frantic footsteps came from the outside...

By the time the footsteps outside arrived at the door, Yan Liqiang had already retreated to the other side of the pool...

With a loud bang, the screen at the door was instantly pushed over by someone. Two guards barged in with weapons in their hands.

To Yan Liqiang, he could pretty much make an accurate shot with his eyes closed over a distance of less than twenty meters.

Swoooosh... A sharp noise resounded. The moment the screen toppled over, the bow in Yan Liqiang’s hands had already released an arrow. It penetrated one of the guard’s throats, shocking the other guard. With a snarl, he charged towards Yan Liqiang. Although he was fast, Yan Liqiang wasn’t slow either. He had already released the second arrow when the guard had just barely charged ten meters towards Yan Liqiang, almost piercing his throat instantaneously.

Both guards fell to the ground in just the blink of an eye, shot to death in close proximity by the Horned Python Bow in Yan Liqiang’s hands.

The noises outside of the door ceased. Yan Liqiang heard a woman’s scream before she fled in the direction she came from.

There was no way his bow and arrows could shoot through the walls so he spared the woman who had escaped. However, these two guards who barged in were on the side of the evildoer, so he had no choice but to kill them.

Young Master Ye was just a few meters away from Yan Liqiang. One of his hands was still nailed to the rack. When he heard the two guards rushed in, he thought he saw a ray of hope. He broke off the arrow shaft that had nailed his hand to the rack and he slid his injured hand from it. Before he could even try to run away, Yan Liqiang released another arrow. The second arrow nailed his uninjured left palm onto that rack again.

It only took a brief moment for Yan Liqiang to almost cripple both of his hands. Immobilizing both meant that Yan Liqiang had eliminated half of the possible threats that could come from his hands.

Young Master Ye’s blood-curdling scream was ear-splitting. Yan Liqiang walked towards him with a cold sneer.

“You’re going to be dead meat... How dare you kill my people here... despite knowing who I am...”

Young Master Ye seemed to be a profligate son who was used to being bossy and acting all high and mighty. Never was he bullied in his life. Even though he was in such a situation, he was still barking at Yan Liqiang like a stray dog even while he was in immense pain. His barking continued until he saw Yan Liqiang resolutely walking to his side emotionlessly before he started to panic. “W-What do you want?”

SLAP!! Yan Liqiang took two big strides forward and ruthlessly smacked Young Master Ye’s face.

The strength from Yan Liqiang’s arm was so powerful that one slap instantly knocked a tooth out of Young Master Ye. One side of his face instantly swelled up.

“YOU...”

Another hard slap rang out. The other side of Young Master Ye’s face was also swollen now and another one of his teeth was knocked out.

Yan Liqiang flicked his wrist after delivering the two slaps. At least Young Master Ye was finally more well-behaved and he shut himself up right away. His head was ringing and he felt as if all the tears and snot in his body had been flung out by Yan Liqiang’s two hard slaps.

“Do not open your mouth unless I tell you to do so. Do not shut your mouth when I ask you to speak. Consider those just now a friendly reminder. As for the rest, I will use my knife to make you learn from your mistakes...” Yan Liqiang put the bow on his back while spoke. He unsheathed the shortsword hanging at his waist and held the sword underneath Young Master Ye’s chin. The tip of the sword pierced Young Master Ye’s skin, drawing blood. Fresh blood ran alongside the blade of the shortsword before it dripped on the floor. Young Master Ye’s face was drained of color. He raised his head, trying to get away from that sharp, icy blade under his chin as his entire body trembled in fear. Yan Liqiang’s hand remained motionless and firm like steel. His gaze was extremely cold.

In reality, Yan Liqiang’s heart wasn’t as icy as his exterior appeared to be. In fact, his thoughts were all jumbled up right now and he was deeply worried, hoping for a slim chance of survival. He knew he definitely had stirred up a huge commotion today. Since he was already involved in this mess, there was no getting out of it now even if he wanted to. Even if he didn’t run into that Shatu man tonight, either he or this man in front of him would ultimately fall in the end. Regardless, it was simply an inexcusable act for them to lay a finger on his father. Yan Dechang was in their hands at this very moment and they were probably planning to use him in a few days time to force Yan Liqiang into submission. This was totally crossing the line for him, and thus it was impossible for him to take a step back at this point.

Tonight, Yan Liqiang had barged into an unexpectedly wrong place by mistake.

As for whether he and his father could leave Pingxi City alive this time, it would all depend on this Young Master Ye that was in his hands. He heard that he was the only son of the Pingxi Prefectural Governor. Hopefully this bastard could prove to be a little useful.

“Nod if you understand. If you don’t understand, I will teach you properly again...”

Young Master Ye nodded his head lightly. A young lord like him who had been treated like a prince every day was able to learn extremely fast under a death threat.

“Alright. I have no interest in your ass. Go put some clothes on first!”

“B-But my hands...”

Yan Liqiang didn’t say anything. His shortsword left Young Master Ye’s throat. With a light swing, he cut the shaft of the arrow which impaled Young Master Ye’s hand, freeing him from it. “On the count of ten, wear whatever you can. If you are still butt-naked when time’s up, then that will be your problem...”

Hearing Yan Liqiang words, Young Master Ye clenched his teeth and used his wrists to retrieve a loose bathrobe on the rack. He draped it on his body although his hands were bleeding profusely and he couldn’t even move a single finger.

“I-Is there any Jinchuang ointment...? I need to treat my wounds...” After putting some clothes on, Young Master Ye told Yan Liqiang this. His forehead was beaded with sweat.

Yan Liqiang wordlessly swung the shortsword in his hand, directly piercing Young Master Ye’s thigh. The tip of the sword sunk exactly two inches into his thigh, avoiding the main vein.

When Yan Liqiang pulled out the shortsword, Young Master Ye let out another miserable shriek once again. The fresh bathrobe he had just changed into was stained red again. His legs almost gave away with the wound on his thigh and he nearly fell down.

“You spoke when I didn’t give you the permission to. That was for you to keep it in your head. Whether I can leave this place in one piece today still depends on my luck. Similarly, your chance of survival today will depend on me. Therefore, there’s no need for you to treat your wounds since you might get more. If you dare to fall down right now, I will stab one of your eyes out next.” Yan Liqiang smiled.

Upon hearing Yan Liqiang’s warning, Young Master Ye could only clench his teeth and endure the pain. He tiptoed in front of Yan Liqiang, facing this person who wouldn’t hesitate to poke a hole in his body with a sword whenever he spoke. For the very first time, Young Master Ye stared at Yan Liqiang, his gaze filled with fear.

“What’s your name?”

“Ye Xiao...”

“Your father is the Prefectural Governor of Pingxi Prefecture?”

“Yes!”

“Do you hate me right now, and are you secretly thinking about how to kill me?”

“N-Not at all...” Ye Xiao let out another blood-curdling scream while his body trembled like a leaf and the beads of sweat on his forehead rolled down. The shortsword in Yan Liqiang’s hand had severed the pinkie on his left hand.

Yan Liqiang was still looking at Ye Xiao with a smile. “The second rule when speaking to me is honesty. If I feel that you are lying, you will instantly know the price you’ll have to pay...”

...

How did beast tamers manage to tame all those animalistic beasts that were difficult to to tame in a short amount of time?

The answer was actually very simple and very cruel – by whipping. Even if a wild beast couldn’t speak, it wasn’t immune to pain and suffering. As long as you let it know which actions would lead to pain and agony, even the less intellectual and ferocious beasts could be domesticated into obedient cats.

If that was possible for a beast, it was possible for humans too.

This was something Yan Liqiang had known in his previous life back when he attended an upper division management course. The lecturer related the principle of taming a beast to analyze the subtle psychological and sociological effects between human resource management in corporate systems and the Stockholm Syndrome.

It was all still fresh Yan Liqiang’s memory.

In such a pressing situation, Yan Liqiang had no choice but to treat the son of the Prefectural Governor like a wild beast. He needed to make this person submit completely to him and instill fear in him. Only with that would he have a chance of surviving today.

Ye Xiao was worse than a beast. However, he wasn’t only a hostage to Yan Liqiang right now, he was the key to his survival.

In the shortest amount of time possible, Yan Liqiang left four extremely painful wounds on Ye Xiao’s body which were no doubt etched deep into his memory. They had completely crumbled the last trace hope and resistance from him. At the same time, Yan Liqiang let Ye Xiao know that his insignificant life was completely in his hands. If Yan Liqiang wanted to kill him, he definitely would not have any second thoughts just because of his identity.

When he watched his finger detached from his palm, the terror that filled the heart of the Prefectural Governor’s young lord far exceeded the physical pain he felt.

Yan Liqiang quickly tied a leather belt around Ye Xiao’s neck. The leather belt was barely loose enough to let the young lord of the Prefectural Governor breathe and not suffocate to death. The other end of the belt bounded both of his hands and were twisted behind his body in an unsightly way, thus completely restricting his movements. Yan Liqiang grabbed the middle part of the belt with one hand and pressed the shortsword in the same hand against Ye Xiao’s back, maintaining it in a position where he could stab him at any moment. His kukri knife was in his other hand he and placed it on Ye Xiao’s shoulder so that the sharp tip of the blade was directly aimed at the main artery in his neck.

Then, with the same position, he effortlessly marched Ye Xiao out from the bathroom with the bow on his back.

The footsteps in the underground tunnel were chaotic and panicked. In just a flash, more than ten guards carrying swords and crossbows rushed out from the tunnel. When they saw Ye Xiao who had been held hostage by Yan Liqiang, each of their expressions became contorted. The few who were holding crossbows instantly crouched down and aimed their weapons at Yan Liqiang.

“Who are you? Release Young Master Ye! If you dare lay a finger on him, the Prefectural Governor will shred you to pieces!!” The person who seemed to be the leader of the group yelled at Yan Liqiang.

“Order them to lower their weapons...” Yan Liqiang gave the order to Ye Xiao. His back against the wall, slightly leaning to the side so that his body was almost completely shielded by Ye Xiao’s body in front of him.

“BASTARDS, QUICKLY PUT DOWN YOUR WEAPONS. DO YOU HEAR ME?” Ye Xiao yelled so loudly that his voice was hoarse.

The guards exchanged looks between themselves before they finally looked at the man who had spoken to Yan Liqiang just now. However, no one put down their weapons.

“Seems like the words of the Prefectural Governor’s young lord have fallen on deaf ears. Maybe they want to see you dead?” Yan Liqiang let out a small sigh and then slightly increased the pressure on the kukri knife that he was holding at Ye Xiao’s neck, instantly cutting into skin. Blood started to seep out from the wound.

Ye Xiao was terror-stricken. With a flushed face, he bellowed at those guards. Even his voice had turned high-pitched and extremely strident to the ears. “ZHAO SONGMING, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? WILL YOU ONLY BE HAPPY WHEN YOU SEE ME DEAD? IF I DIE HERE TODAY, MY FATHER WILL DEFINITELY SEE TO IT THAT YOU WILL BE BURIED ALONG WITH MY BODY. ALL OF YOU WILL BE MY MURDERERS!!”

The countenance of the leader of the guards who had yelled at Yan Liqiang earlier instantly became distorted. “Everyone, lower your weapons, lower your weapons!”

Those who were holding swords or powerful crossbows hurriedly placed the weapons in their hands on the floor.

“I don’t care who you all are, but you better listen carefully. Starting from now, stay five zhang [1] away from me. If anyone comes closer than that without my permission, I will chop one of Ye Xiao’s fingers off. If two people come five zhang near me, I will chop one of Ye Xiao’s hands off. Also, if I notice anyone holding a crossbow or a hidden weapon within a hundred meters, I will poke a hole through Ye Xiao’s body. If you want to kill me, I will definitely use Ye Xiao as a meat shield. So to those who want to perform in front of your master, I will advise you to reconsider. If anything happens to Ye Xiao because of you, or if he has any missing fingers or holes in his body, you will bear the consequences. Don’t risk your little life just because you want to do well. I can’t kill you, but there’s definitely someone who can!” Yan Liqiang revealed his face from behind Ye Xiao and spoke to those guards in an icy tone. “Alright, that’s all. Step back now and keep yourselves five zhang away from me...”

“DID YOU HEAR THAT? FALL BACK AND QUICKLY SPREAD THE WORD!” Ye Xiao shouted at those guards on his own accord without Yan Liqiang’s instructions. The blue, bulging veins on his forehead were clearly visible.

This time, all the guards hurriedly moved backwards without Zhao Songming saying anything. All of them feared that any sort of delay would turn them into scapegoats. Yan Liqiang was totally playing a mind game with them just now and his words hit the guards right in their weak spots. Under these circumstances, it would naturally be a good thing if one could rescue Young Master Ye – a high position and great wealth in the future would be waiting for them. However, if anything happened to Young Master Ye because of someone, even if he sustained a scratch on him, it would spell doom for that person...

Yan Liqiang watched in satisfaction as each guard retreated five zhang away from him.

“I’ll give you five minutes to bring me the two girls that were kidnapped just now...” Yan Liqiang told Ye Xiao.

“WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? CALL YE AN TO SEND THOSE TWO GIRLS HERE!” Ye Xiao shouted again at the guards.

In just a flash, the two girls that Yan Liqiang had seen just now were brought over.

They were already awake, but they were gagged, blindfolded, and also restrained by the ropes. When they were brought around five zhang away from Yan Liqiang, Yan Liqiang ordered the guards to undo the ropes and take off the blindfolds and the gags so that he could take another good look at the two ladies. Upon confirming that these two were the very same ladies he saw earlier, he let the frightened girls escape from the tunnel behind him and towards the exit at the back. At the same time, he also brought up the rear and slowly retreated into the tunnel that he used earlier when he came here with Ye Xiao.

Those guards were stuck in a difficult situation. They were only allowed to stay five zhang away from Yan Liqiang, and so they could only blindly follow him to the other end of the tunnel.

When Yan Liqiang arrived at the metal door of the tunnel along with Ye Xiao, he suddenly heard screams from the two ladies who were running in front of him. The scene he saw when he turned around made his eyes bulge and burn with anger. Just twenty meters away from him, the two young ladies had collapsed to the floor with crimson, bloody wounds on their fair necks. Their wounds were still wholly open. In just a flash, both young and beautiful ladies had withered away like roses, dying before Yan Liqiang’s eyes.

Unbeknownst to him, a man was already standing at the exit of the tunnel, fully dressed in black with gray hair, wearing a sinister face.

That man stared at Yan Liqiang with a malevolent smile. The expression on his face was then replaced by a solemn look in just a flash before he made a loud announcement to everyone. “Everyone, listen carefully here. This person who abducted Young Master Ye kidnapped two young girls in Pingxi City today and did some monstrous things to them. Fortunately, the Young Master discovered his strange act when he was out today and had the guards rescue the two girls, taking the three of them to the manor. He was about to report this to the authorities but he didn’t expect this man to be so cunning and evil to come up with such a trick. While waiting for an opportunity to flee, he killed these two girls, abducted the Young Master, and also killed a few guards in the manor while attempting to escape...”

The man who just emerged directly and efficiently killed the two ladies off first before he poured dirty water all over Yan Liqiang with just a few words, instantly reversing the entire situation. Under such circumstances, even if Yan Liqiang could get out of here alive, he would become a wanted criminal in the Great Han Empire just like King Cobra, set to live in shame forever and be spurned upon. He’d probably be assassinated at any given moment.

Unless he could overthrow the Prefectural Governor of Pingxi Prefecture, he probably would never have the opportunity to prove his innocence in his entire lifetime.

It would be nearly impossible for a fourteen-year-old kid to overthrow a Prefectural Governor alone without any support or influential figures behind him, despite having some aptitude in cultivation. The difficulty of this situation was akin to that of a high school student from a key school [1] trying to oust the mayor in his previous world. Back in a modern society, if one had any information on hand, one might have a slim chance to fight for that through rallies or social media exposure. However, in an informationally-closed world like this, not many would bother to believe you even if you shouted at the top of your lungs.

Yan Liqiang glared at the man dressed in black in shock and anger. He could feel blood rushing to the top of his head. That man in black coldly stared at him with a smile on his face. He flicked the longsword in his hand, softly shaking off the blood that coated the blade. He then stepped over the corpses of the two ladies on the floor and made his way towards Yan Liqiang while giving him a death stare. “Release Young Master Ye and I will let you die with an intact corpse!” His tone of voice was very icy.

‘Keep calm, keep calm, I must keep calm!’

Yan Liqiang chanted to himself in his heart. He then moved his hands. The kukri knife in his hand danced in midair, immediately slicing Ye Xiao’s ears off. Both fell onto the floor.

“AHHHHHHHH!!!” Ye Xiao let out an ear-piercing scream. His neck and shoulders were instantly soaked in his own fresh blood while his entire body trembled. The pain was so intense that he almost couldn’t stand still. He only managed to barely stand due to Yan Liqiang’s grip on the belt that held him up. His scream reverberated throughout the passageway. Tears and snot came flying out.

“I might die, but before I die, I will definitely make sure that this person here will share the same fate as me. I know I’m not your match, but as long as you come anywhere near me within five zhang, I will definitely kill Ye Xiao before you kill me. Would you like to give it a try?” Yan Liqiang looked straight at that man in black.

The man in black abruptly stopped dead in his tracks. His eyes flashed with cold, icy gleams as he stared at Yan Liqiang.

“If this person wants me dead, then I want you dead too. You lost both your ears because this person acted without permission. Would you like to tell him something?” Yan Liqiang asked Ye Xiao.

“MASTER, MASTER... I DON’T WANT TO DIE... SAVE ME... SAVE ME...!” Ye Xiao wailed loudly. “If I die here, then it’ll be your fault! Even if you are my master, my father will not let you get away with this. Zhao Songming, hurry up and get my father to come. Ask him to save me...!”

It seemed like this man in black was Ye Xiao’s master. Yan Liqiang had only managed to make clear of his opponent’s identity through Ye Xiao’s wails.

The man gave Ye Xiao a single glance before he calmly spoke. “I’ve already sent someone to inform the Prefectural Governor. He should be here soon...”

“Now, I need to pass through here. Get out of my way!” Yan Liqiang said while seizing Ye Xiao as he inched his way towards the person dressed in black.

The man in black coldly stared at Yan Liqiang, still blocking his way.

The distance between the two parties quickly reduced to five zhang. Seeing that the man in black had no intention of retreating, he pressed the sharp blade of the kukri knife in his hand deeper into Ye Xiao’s neck. The wound on his neck started to grow in size, and blood started seeping out, running down. The clothes Ye Xiao was wearing was now already half-soaked with his own blood. Yan Liqiang looked straight into the eyes of the man in black without any fear. The hand that he held his knife with remained steady and the pace he moved at with Ye Xiao in tow showed no signs of slowing down at all.

“MASTER, I DON’T WANT TO DIE, I DON’T WANT TO DIE...!” Ye Xiao nearly went insane when he saw the two parties drawing closer to each other. They were reaching the five zhang mark. The wound on his neck was growing larger and he was losing more blood. He couldn’t help but yell in panic.

When the two parties were approaching the distance of five zhang, Yan Liqiang’s blade finally touched the main artery on Ye Xiao’s neck. Yan Liqiang didn’t stop and kept pushing Ye Xiao to the front, towards the man in black who unwaveringly glared at Ye Xiao’s neck and Yan Liqiang’s hand. In the end, he took a step backwards, so Yan Liqiang stopped pressing on the kukri knife in his hand.

He continued pressing on with Ye Xiao while the man in black continued to fall back. Both parties kept a distance of five zhang between them while they moved towards the underground entrance of the boutique.

In just a flash, Yan Liqiang made it below the exit that he that he had entered from with Ye Xiao in tow. The heat from the exit above was threatening and the firelight seeped through the cracks of the exit.

That exit had already been sealed off. Yan Liqiang could barely make out the shouts of someone from above. “This room is also on fire! Quick, bring down the walls of this room! Hurry! Don’t let the fire spread!”

A rumbling noise came from the tremor above ground. The underground exit had been completely sealed. It was no longer possible to exit from here.

The man in black sneered coldly at Yan Liqiang. “You are indeed a very smart one. You set the room upstairs on fire and exposed the tunnel so that if someone from outside barged into the room to put out the fire, they’d discover the three corpses you left in the room and the tunnel. Then they’d subsequently report it to the authorities. This would guarantee your safety and escape route, and also the reason why you dared to rush in here. Yet you have no idea the party you are messing with are the authorities themselves and also the highest official of Pingxi City at that. I was the first to rush in here when I saw the fire from the outside and I ordered the law enforcers to surround this boutique, preventing anyone from coming anywhere near here. The exit of this boutique’s tunnel was also sealed when I came here and I also set the room above on fire. Not only that, I’ve also ordered people to bring down the room to seal off the tunnel exit. If you wish to get out, you can only use the other exit...”

Yan Liqiang took a deep breath and wordlessly marched backwards with Ye Xiao, preparing to leave from the manor that Ye Xiao was at. With that, everything he was about to do now would really fall into the trap that the man in black had laid out for him to outsiders – that he had abducted Ye Xiao and escaped from his place...

However, he couldn’t afford to be bothered so much now. He needed to leave the basement first.

“How do we get above ground? Lead the way. If you think you still have enough blood to spare, you may go ahead and waste my time!” Yan Liqiang commanded and pressed a little harder on the knife, thus creating another wound on Ye Xiao’s neck.

“From that side... a-and you’ll get out immediately!” Ye Xiao replied through his clattering teeth.

Yan Liqiang marched Ye Xiao upstairs again. He was now surrounded on both sides, with people standing five zhang away from him. The man in black, or Ye Xiao’s master, was on one side and the guards on the other. One party advanced while the other went in reverse. In just flash, Yan Liqiang arrived at one of the courtyards in the lavish manor above the basement under Ye Xiao’s lead with a group of people surrounding him.

The moment Yan Liqiang marched Ye Xiao out there, the lavish manor was instantly turned upside down. The panic-stricken noises of the servants and the shrill screams of the maids rose and subsided in succession.

“Where’s the exit? Get me out of here!”

“Here... Here...” Ye Xiao was about to lead Yan Liqiang out of the room.

“Slow down. Let me remind you again. If I see anyone holding any crossbows or hidden weapons within a hundred meters from us, don’t blame me for putting a hole in you...”

“ZHAO SONGMING, DID YOU HEAR THAT?!” Ye Xiao had a nervous breakdown and shouted at the leader of the guards.

“Rest assured, Young Master. I have already sent someone to spread the word. No one will do anything that will put your life at risk...”

Yan Liqiang seized Ye Xiao, exited the lavish manor, and arrived at the main street outside.

The snowflakes were still fluttering in the air. Flames were raging at the boutique which was two hundred meters away. Not a soul could be seen within a radius of one hundred meters from the grand manor because this place had completely been sealed off by law enforcers and soldiers of Pingxi City. Those soldiers and law enforcers were holding torches which illuminated the road. Their eyes filled with hatred, disgust, and coldness when they saw Yan Liqiang come out from the manor, holding a knife at Ye Xiao’s throat.

Under the gazes of those soldiers and law enforcers alone, Yan Liqiang was certain that the words from the man in black earlier in the basement had already been circulated while he was on the move with Ye Xiao in captivity. He reckoned that story had become the truth for those soldiers and law enforcers. At this moment, he was nothing but a heinous criminal beyond redemption. His words were meaningless because at this point in time, he no longer had the power to defend himself.

Yan Liqiang’s heart was filled with bitterness. The coldness of the snowflake that had landed on the back of his hand that he was holding his knife with directly pierced his heart.

Even if he could get away from Pingxi City today, there was no escaping all the charges that would be laid on him. No one could save him now.

A middle-aged man dressed in the Prefectural Governor official uniform stood outside the main entrance with a group of guards beside him. He looked at Ye Xiao who had been seized by Yan Liqiang with a deep frown on his face.

“FATHER, SAVE ME!!” Ye Xiao immediately wailed loudly when he saw the middle-aged man.

“Release my son.” The Prefectural Governor coldly commanded Yan Liqiang.

“Ask the Law Enforcement Office to bring Yan Dechang whom they seized today and prepare a horse carriage for me.” Yan Liqiang calmly gave his orders to the Prefectural Governor of Pingxi City whom even Huangfu Qianqi had to lower his head to.

At this moment, there was no point in saying more. All Yan Liqiang had in his mind was to keep Yan Dechang and himself alive, and then escape from Pingxi City. Yan Dechang was still imprisoned in the Law Enforcement Office’s prison. If he chose to depart this place by himself, it would be impossible for Yan Dechang stay alive. Therefore, his only option was to bring Yan Dechang along with him and flee for their lives...

In the morning, Yan Liqiang was still the rising star of Pingxi Martial Arts Academy, admired by countless people.

During the afternoon, Yan Liqiang still held the Huangfu Qianqi’s bodyguard token and he could still access the Military Governor’s Office of Pingxi City.

Yet tonight, in just a short one hour, Yan Liqiang was driven into a corner in Pingxi City within an instant...

In just the blink of an eye, the savior had turned into a murderous fiend who kidnapped young girls and couldn’t leave Pingxi City alive without a hostage. Yet the hostage he held was the true devil and murderer.

It wasn’t like he took the wrong script for the play. This was nothing but a common scene in this world.

This was the way of this world. More often than not, the so-called ‘righteousness’ was nothing before authority. The life of a peasant like Yan Liqiang without any background was less than that of an ant before the power of authority.

In the face of authority, it actually only took one word or gesture to distort any fact into fabricated stories, concealing the truth from masses.

Yan Liqiang leaned against the lion statue at the entrance of the splendid manor. This spot was safe from any projectiles from shooting weapons. He scanned the roofs in the surroundings and let out a sigh of relief when he confirmed that there were no archers there while Ye Xiao was shielding him. Young Master Ye, dressed in only a layer of clothes, was shivering in the snow. The guards who had surrounded Yan Liqiang and the Prefectural Governor of Pingxi City were staring icily at Yan Liqiang from more than thirty meters away.

The other ordinary guards and soldiers were all a hundred meters away, sealing off the road and they didn’t come anywhere near them. This situation made it impossible for Yan Liqiang to create any sort of distraction by crying out his grievances loudly.

Yan Liqiang could only smile bitterly. The other party had already planned everything, leaving him without any opportunities. The other thing which baffled Yan Liqiang was the reaction of the Prefectural Governor of Pingxi Prefecture. He only frowned at the sight of the half-crippled Ye Xiao who was riddled with scars since the beginning. Even when he verbally ordered Yan Liqiang to release Ye Xiao, his whole demeanor remained very calm, so unusually calm.

The torches in the surroundings crackled. The atmosphere was silent and stifling. Yan Liqiang didn’t have to wait too long before Yan Dechang was brought over.

Yan Dechang who came off from the tightly sealed prisoner carriage was shackled and handcuffed. He also had some bruises and scars on his face. When he just left the carriage, Yan Dechang reflexively squinted and raised his hands up to shield his eyes from the piercing firelight and the shadows of the crowd across from him.

“Reporting to my lord, Yan Dechang has been brought here!”

Upon hearing the voice of someone reporting beside him, Yan Dechang instantly widened his eyes to take a clearer look around him. He was so astonished by the sight of everything around him here.

“Father...!” Yan Liqiang called out.

There was a rattling noise when Yan Dechang tried to go towards Yan Liqiang, but he was unable to take a step further because the two law enforcers beside him pulled him back the handcuffs.

“Liqiang, what’s going on? What happened to you?” Yan Dechang asked loudly in shock.

“Father, I discovered that the Prefectural Governor’s son abducted and killed ladies from respectable families in Pingxi City by coincidence. In my attempt to rescue the victims, I fell into their death trap. The hostage I have in my hands is the son of the Prefectural Governor...”

Perhaps others wouldn’t believe Yan Liqiang’s claims, but that was not the case for Yan Dechang. He believed him without a doubt.

He struggled and the metal chain on him rattled. “Don’t bother about me, think of a way to escape yourself!” He shouted at Yan Liqiang.

“We’re leaving together!” Yan Liqiang shook his head and looked straight into the Prefectural Governor’s eyes. “Release my father from the chains that bind him!”

“Your father was only captured by the members of the Law Enforcement Office today due to his suspicious activities for an interrogation. There isn’t much of a problem at the moment and we have yet to determine if your father violated any laws. Hence I will release him right now!” The Prefectural Governor calmly watched the scene before him. “However, you have already violated the law today by committing murder and causing such a huge commotion. Should you feel that you have been wronged, feel free to appeal to the Law Enforcement Office. I will definitely investigate this matter thoroughly and do you justice. Release the hostage and we shall talk more.”

After hearing the Prefectural Governor’s words, people who didn’t know better would probably be tricked into thinking that he was handling this matter fairly and lawfully, and also that he was an upright and plainspoken individual. For Yan Liqiang who had lived two lives, he wasn’t going to fall for this kind of bullsh*t. On top of that, he already had suspected that Pingxi’s Prefectural Governor was colluding with the Shatu people. Based on everything he had seen and heard today, the extent of their collaboration might perhaps be beyond his imagination.

“Fine. I will bear the consequences of my actions alone. Let’s set aside my affairs for now. This incident has no relevance to my father. Since there’s no issue with my father, you will release him first and let him leave Pingxi City!” Yan Liqiang remained calm as he spoke.

“Release the hostage first and allow yourself to be arrested without any resistance. That will prove that today’s incident had nothing do to with your father – naturally, I will release him too. I cannot help but feel suspicious on how insistent you are over having your father leave first. Perhaps your father entered the city today because he made a prior agreement with you to commit a crime together. If this is the case then I naturally cannot release him because we still have to get to the bottom of this first!”

“Liqiang, don’t worry about me, you go first!” Yan Dechang yelled.

Yan Liqiang didn’t say a word – he only pressed a little harder on the kukri knife in his hand, creating a new wound on Ye Xiao’s shoulder. Fresh blood started seeping out and Ye Xiao wailed loudly again. “FATHER, SAVE ME... SAVE ME...!”

“Ye Xiao. Although you are my son, I cannot afford to violate the rules of our empire for your sake by bending the laws for selfish reasons instead of making a clear distinction between public and private interests and letting a criminal get away under my nose. I have always taught you to be loyal to the country. Now, this is the time to prove your loyalty!” The Prefectural Governor of Pingxi Prefecture looked around at his surroundings with dignity and his voice resonated like the great bell. It was as if he was the embodiment of Bao Qingtian [1]. “Everyone, listen to my orders. Take that person down immediately. If he puts up any resistance, execute him!”

The law enforcers and guards in the surroundings exchanged looks when they heard the Prefectural Governor’s order. They took out their weapons and inched towards Yan Liqiang together.

At this exact moment, Yan Dechang suddenly let out a loud roar. Like a mad bull, he slammed into the law enforcer beside him with his strong body and sent him flying before he pounced on the Prefectural Governor of Pingxi Prefecture with all his might. “RUN, LIQIANG! IF YOU CAN LEAVE THIS PLACE ALIVE TODAY, DON’T FORGET TO EXTERMINATE THE SHATU SEVEN TRIBES TO AVENGE YOUR MOTHER...!”

A sword gleam flashed by. Part of the shiny longsword protruded out Yan Dechang’s back, abruptly ending his shout.

In Yan Liqiang’s eyes, everything seemed to freeze at this very moment.

Yan Dechang turned his head around with great difficulty to glance at Yan Liqiang. Blood spilled out of his mouth endlessly. “H-Hurry... G-Go...” were the two words he could manage.

At the end of Yan Dechang’s last word, his head flew. His sturdy body slightly swayed, then collapsed in a heap.

The man in black, or Ye Xiao’s master, stood before Yan Dechang while he sneered disdainfully and coldly at Yan Liqiang.

“FATHER!!” Yan Liqiang screamed in anguish as his eyes widened like saucers and were instantly bloodshot. He exerted force on the shortsword which was pressed against Ye Xiao’s back, instantly driving the tip of the blade through his heart to the hilt. The blade protruded from Ye Xiao’s chest. Ye Xiao coughed up a mouthful of fresh blood; he fell to the floor and instantly died.

Yan Liqiang didn’t leave. He held the kukri knife in his hand and lunged toward the man in black. He was going to put up a desperate fight!

A guard from the Ye Clan rushed over and brandished his longsword at Yan Liqiang. His longsword clashed against Yan Liqiang’s kukri knife but it was knocked out of his hands due to the powerful force from Yan Liqiang. Yan Liqiang then hacked the guard’s head with his kukri knife. The guard’s head immediately split open like a watermelon. His brain matter splattered all over Yan Liqiang.

Another law enforcer charged towards him, but Yan Liqiang evaded his baton with a smooth footwork, then slashed down his knife. The law enforcer fell to the floor along with one of his severed arms, and he howled in pain.

Yan Liqiang was like a frenzied tiger. He had murdered two people and injured a person in just a split second. For a moment, the other law enforcers and guards in the surroundings were overwhelmed by Yan Liqiang’s aura.

In just the blink of an eye, Yan Liqiang had dashed to the front of the man in black.

The disdainful sneer never left the man in black. He was waiting for Yan Liqiang to come for him. With a flick of his longsword, the kukri knife Yan Liqiang brandished at him was knocked out of his hands.

Yan Liqiang let out another violent howl. The Dharmic projection of a vicious tiger from the Tiger Roaring Consecutive Fist technique manifested behind him. As he flung his fist toward his opponent, the roar of a tiger erupted in the air.

When his fist was half way out, Yan Liqiang felt a cool sensation in his chest instead before there was a sharp pain in his heart. He lowered his head and saw that the longsword in that person’s hand had already pierced through his breastplate and his heart, freezing his movement. In this exact moment, every ounce of strength in his body was rapidly discharged from his body as though a floodgate had been opened.

He didn’t manage to complete even two techniques in the face of this person...

Am I dying...?

A thought suddenly emerged in Yan Liqiang’s mind.

“Perhaps you might manage to land a few more techniques on me in another ten years. However, at this point in time, you’re not even a Martial Warrior so you’re nothing but an ant in my eyes. Are you here to throw your life away?” The man in black looked at Yan Liqiang with his usual cold gaze.

“GAHHHH!!” Yan Liqiang suddenly snarled and pushed a step forward, letting the blade of the longsword completely pierce his heart. The moment the man in black was startled, Yan Liqiang’s hands had caught his wrists. He then suddenly lowered his head and bit the man’s right hand that was holding the sword with all his might. He almost bit off the man’s right thumb. The web between the man’s thumb and forefinger was ripped into two.

The man in black let out a blood-curdling scream and kicked Yan Liqiang’s chest. The terrifying snap of shattered bones rang out and Yan Liqiang was sent flying.

His heart had been pierced through by the longsword. His breastbone and internal organs were also instantly crushed. The moment his body was sent flying by the man in black with a kick, Yan Liqiang could feel his body turning weightless. Before he knew it, he was suddenly floating in midair. The most intense pain he felt just now vanished without a trace...

What’s going on? Just what is going on? Why am I floating in midair...?

At this moment, everything was jumbled up in Yan Liqiang’s head.

In the midst of this confusion, he ‘saw’ a familiar figure flying across a distance of more than ten meters before it landed heavily on the ground. After rolling two times, the figure laid there motionlessly.

The unmoving body that landed hard on the ground was no one but Yan Liqiang himself.

“M-MY HAND... MY HAND... ARGHH!!”

The man in black cradled his right hand which was bleeding profusely and he screamed in agony beside Yan Liqiang...

In his recklessness, Yan Liqiang had bitten off the entire thumb of the man in black’s right hand. When Yan Liqiang was sent flying into the air from his kick, the flesh and bone of his thumb that had been bitten off fell to the ground. It was so mangled that it didn’t remotely resemble anything like a thumb anymore. Perhaps not even God could restore it back now. The terrifying strength Yan Liqiang gained over the countless days of practicing Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing could similarly be observed in the strength of his jaws. With just that, Yan Liqiang managed to inflict a serious injury on the man in black.

Losing a thumb meant that the hand was half-crippled. This was especially true for a sword user. Therefore, it was nearly impossible for the man in black to wield his sword with his right hand again from now on.

The man in black picked up his horribly mangled thumb from the floor and yelled like mad. He picked up the longsword with his left hand from the floor and ran towards Yan Liqiang’s body. He stabbed Yan Liqiang’s chest and neck with his sword as if he had lost his mind, then he chopped off his limbs. “HOW DARE YOU BITE ME? HOW DARE YOU!?”

Flesh and blood splattered everywhere throughout the entire process. In the blink of an eye, Yan Liqiang’s body was mutilated beyond recognition. Blood flowed from his body, staining the snow crimson which covered the ground beneath him.

Yan Liqiang was floating in the air during the entire process as he watched the man in black vent out his anger on his body like a spectator.

Watching your own body be wrecked by someone else with your own eyes was an extremely bizarre feeling.

Yan Liqiang lowered his head to look at his own hands...

The outlines of his hands were still very distinct, even though they had lost their physical form and appeared to be nothing but a layer of translucent white light. He extended out his hand. The snowflake that fluttered down from the sky passed right through his palm and continued falling...

Am I dead...? Is this... what happens when someone dies? Those people in the surroundings... can’t or sense me... Is this what they call a spirit or ghost in folklore...?

Countless thoughts ran through Yan Liqiang’s head. He lowered his head and spotted Yan Dechang’s corpse not too far away. His heart was suddenly overwhelmed by grief.

Countless soldiers and law enforcers came up from both sides and started to clean up the scene. He could no longer see Yan Dechang’s figure anywhere on the main street.

“FATHER, WHERE ARE YOU...? FATHER, WHERE ARE YOU...?” Yan Liqiang yelled loudly. Everyone in the surroundings didn’t seem to notice him as they carried on with their own tasks.

Yan Liqiang realized that he was as fast as lightning. He floated gently in the sky, his feet not touching the ground. It felt as if there was a powerful buoyancy on the ground which lifted him up. Just a single thought alone could propel him over a distance of hundred meters.

He shouted everywhere. In just a flash, he had already flown around a huge area and saw nothing but emptiness around him. Apart from the snowflakes that filled the skies and the intensely burning torches burning, there was no sight of Yan Dechang anywhere anymore.

Didn’t everyone have a soul after dying? Wouldn’t they become ghosts, just like him in his current state...? Why was he all alone here...? Why...? Father, where are you...?

“Where are you...? Where are you...?”

Heart-wrenching sobs wracked his body. Soft, glowing white tears fell from his eyes and disappeared into the void.

“I’LL KILL YOU...!” When Yan Liqiang saw the man in black still mutilating his corpse with a longsword nearby, he pounced on him with bitterness.

Yan Liqiang’s fists and body passed through the man in black. His opponent didn’t seem to sense him either. He tried another few attempts in a row and realized that nothing had changed. His current body was like a transparent shadow, unable to interact with any object.

“There are so many people watching. That’s enough!” The Prefectural Governor came over and whispered softly, “As the saying goes, a lion should also hunt a rabbit at full strength. You are a Martial Master who might advance to become a Martial Grandmaster in just a few years time. Yet you got one of your hands crippled during a battle with a youth who wasn’t even a Martial Warrior. To put it simply, you underestimated your opponent and you have no one to blame for that. You could have ended the battle with your second slash, yet you gave the youth an opening...”

The man in black instantly stopped and panted heavily.

...

The Prefectural Governor then came before Ye Xiao who had been finished off by Yan Liqiang. He looked at Ye Xiao’s pale face which was contorted in terror and his eyes which remained open even in his death, staring up at the heavens. He crouched down and placed his hand over them. He tried to shut Ye Xiao’s eyes with a gentle brush downwards, but Ye Xiao’s eyes still remained open when the Prefectural Governor lifted his hand. He tried two more times and realized that he couldn’t shut Ye Xiao’s eyes no matter what so he gave up in the end and stood up. He glanced at those guards who trembled with fear in the surroundings and let out a small sigh. “I’ll leave the Young Master to you...”

“Understood!”

...

Yan Liqiang drifted along the main street as if he had lost his soul. By the time he snapped back to reality, he didn’t know how long he had been standing there. The main street which was bustling with activity earlier was now left with only a few people. All the corpses had been carried away. The blood trails on the ground had been covered by stove ashes and then cleaned. Snow was still falling from the sky, concealing every single remaining trace, as if nothing had ever happened.

The fire at the boutique in the distance had been extinguished. The flames were gone, only a pile of ruins remained along with the remains of brick walls and the broken roof tiles were still emitting smoke. The soldiers that came out just now had all withdrawn from the place, leaving only a few law enforcers guarding the ruins, preventing anyone from coming any closer.

Only the entrance of the lavish manor before him was still wide open. The honor guards of the Prefectural Governor were still standing next to the entrance outside. Officials who seemed to be in a hurry and nervous-looking law enforcers were passing through the entrance...

Yan Liqiang lifted his hands which were glowing white and observed them. Right at this moment, he wasn’t sure if he was dead or still alive. Was he a human or a ghost?

Everything before his eyes was no different than what he had seen and heard back when he was still alive. Except for the fact that he had become a strange being which couldn’t be sensed by others, he was just like a transparent shadow.

Yet the hatred and agony ingrained deep in his bones were still surging in his heart.

Yan Dechang’s dying words which he struggled to say still lingered in Yan Liqiang’s ears.

He shut his eyes in agony...

When a person was still alive, all they could see was darkness when they shut their eyes. However, Yan Liqiang saw an odd-looking huge rock instead when he shut his eyes.

The huge rock assumed the form of a mountain in one minute, and turned into a meteor the next minute, as well as various flying birds, fishes, or bugs. There were also various silhouettes of mythological beasts which Yan Liqiang had never seen before. The myriads of changes were an enigma to behold...

The huge rock drifted in the sea of consciousness within his mind as it kept changing its shape endlessly. A soft, milky white ray of light emitted from the huge rock then gently and warmly enveloped Yan Liqiang’s entire consciousness. At the same time, it also formed this incorporeal body which was visible only to Yan Liqiang himself.

...

In the hall of that lavish manor, Ye Tiancheng, the Prefectural Governor of Pingxi Prefecture, sat in front of his desk with an icy expression on his face. A few officials in Pingxi City stood below with their heads lowered while they quivered in fear. Quite a number of them had beads of sweat on their foreheads. The young lord of the Prefectural Governor had just been murdered by someone outside of this lavish manor today and this made them feel apprehensive. They weren’t sure just what kind of flame was burning in his heart at this moment...

“That Yan Liqiang is from Qinhe County’s Liuhe Town. He’s currently a student at the Pingxi Prefecture Martial Arts Academy and s-seemed to also be the bodyguard of the Military Governor...” The official made the report with his head lowered. He secretly wiped his cold sweat as he spoke.

“How did such an atrocious person manage to get into the Pingxi Prefecture Martial Arts Academy and even be chosen as a bodyguard by Huangfu Qianqi?”

“Sources claim that Yan Liqiang is ranked first among the top three in this year’s Martial Arts County Trial Examination in Qinghe County...”

“No wonder why!” The Prefectural Governor’s gaze flickered. “What’s Yan Liqiang’s family background? Does he have any other relatives or siblings?”

“There are only two people in Yan Liqiang’s household, him and Yan Dechang. He has no other siblings and no one has heard of his relatives...”

The expression on the Prefectural Governor’s face relaxed slightly. “Yan Liqiang and Yan Dechang are guilty of terrible crimes. They have been executed and all their properties shall be confiscated...”

“Understood...”

“It is unfortunate for such terrible event to happen in Pingxi City. Please appease the clans of the two girls who were murdered by Yan Liqiang as well as the family of Wang Zhaofei who died for his courageous act in Huanglong County as much as possible. You may distribute part of the properties seized from Yan Liqiang as financial support to them...”

“How merciful of you, Sir...”

“The Pingxi Prefecture Martial Arts Academy isn’t some haven for criminals. Have the Law Enforcement Office investigate the martial arts academy to see if there are still any questionable individuals who collude with Yan Liqiang in there. If there are, have the martial arts academy expel them and ban them for life.”

“Understood.”

“The incident from tonight caused quite a huge commotion that will provoke discussions. To prevent the rise of such discussions and turmoil in people’s hearts, I expect to see announcements posted everywhere in Pingxi City to reassure the public before the next sunrise...”

“Yes...”

...

Next, the Prefectural Governor continued giving out his orders one by one. Those officials who accepted the orders left the hall in a hurry and began mobilizing the legal parties in Pingxi City to settle various matters related to the aftermath of the incident.

The Prefectural Governor only left the hall after settling all public affairs and slowly made his way towards a courtyard behind the lavish manor.

Upon seeing the arrival of the Prefectural Governor, all the servants and guards in the courtyard withdrew with their heads lowered, so silently that not even their breaths were audible.

There was a room in the courtyard and the room had already been arranged. A few white candles were lit in the room and there was a long table placed in the center. Ye Xiao laid there, and his lifeless body was covered by a piece of white fabric.

Ye Xiao’s master, the man in black, was also there. His injured right hand had already been wrapped up. However, anger and unwillingness were still evident on his face.

Ye Tiancheng walked to the center of the room and uncovered the white fabric. He took a single glance at Ye Xiao who was covered beneath the cloth.

Ye Xiao’s corpse was pale and stiff. It had already been cleaned up by the coroner in the Law Enforcement Office in the city in the shortest amount of time. Even the wound on his neck and chest, as well as his detached ears had all been stitched up. No one could really tell afterward as they were covered up by a layer of powder.

Since Ye Xiao’s eyes couldn’t be shut, two copper coins tied up with a red string were placed on top of them.

“I’ve taken care of you like my own son for more than twenty years since you were only three months old. I believe that you have already enjoyed all the glory, splendor, wealth, luxurious lifestyle and women over these years. An ordinary person might not necessarily enjoy all the pleasures you experienced in these twenty years even over three lifetimes. Today marks your death, but you shouldn’t hold any regrets either. Even if you didn’t die today and Yan Liqiang escaped from here, this matter would also have been exposed. Perhaps even I would not have the power to cover it up for you by then. Therefore, don’t blame me for not rescuing you today. Think of it as a retribution...” There was no sign of sadness on Ye Tiancheng’s face, let alone any tears in his eyes. He only looked at Ye Xiao’s corpse calmly and spoke softly using a tone that did not suit a father. After he finished speaking, he gently covered the body again with the white fabric.

The man in black spatted vehemently, “This stand-in is nothing but useless thrash. He lived in such great conditions yet he couldn’t even advance as a Martial Warrior after all these years. He couldn’t even keep his foolery with a few women down and caused so much trouble.”

“Mo Leng, I guess you can only train yourself to use a sword with your left hand from now on.” Ye Tiancheng took a single glance at the man in black. “You shall leave Pingxi City tomorrow and find a place to recuperate. When your injuries have recovered, get a new identity for yourself and look for Xiao’er. In the previous letter he wrote home, he mentioned that he already advanced as a Supreme Martial Warrior in the Divine Sword Sect and is able to cultivate in the inner sect. Not only that, but he has also captured the attention of an elder in the Divine Sword Sect and has a bright future ahead of him...”

“Understood!” The man in black looked down at the floor. “If the Young Master ever returns, his identity...”

“The current situation is already chaotic as it is, so we shall leave matters of the future when the time comes. We no longer need to hide anything now. The entire Gan Province is ours.” The Prefectural Governor’s eyes lit up.

“Right!”

“Bring Zhao Songming in...”

The guard captain of the lavish manor kneeled at the entrance the moment he arrived at the room. He was completely drenched in sweat and didn’t dare to even lift his head.

The Prefectural Governor stared at him coldly and wordlessly. He then suddenly lifted a finger and a red fiery snake shot out from the tip of his finger. It penetrated into the crown of the guard captain’s head and went into his body. The guard captain who was kneeling on the floor only let out a blood-curdling scream and immediately collapsed onto the floor. His body was set ablaze along with his hair and clothes. In just a moment’s time, all that remained of him was only a charred corpse. The entire room was filled with a waft of a pungent odor.

The Prefectural Governor and the man in black left the room soon after that. Someone was then sent in to dispose of the charred corpse.

However, no one was aware that Yan Liqiang was in this room too.

Yan Liqiang had been following the Prefectural Governor of Pingxi Prefecture since he left the hall, and he had witnessed everything with his own eyes.

He finally understood why the Prefectural Governor seemed to be unaffected by the death of his ‘son’. It turned out that this Ye Xiao was merely a stand-in the Prefectural Governor kept by his side while his real son was cultivating in Divine Sword Sect under another identity.

The Divine Sword Sect was one of the four major sects of the Great Han Empire, and it was also a renowned sect.

Much like the attention and sensitivity Yan Liqiang had observed in his previous world towards the children of public figures and government officials, it was the same for the children of an official in this world, especially those who had a certain ranking. Most often, the emblem of the sect they carried and their connections to others sects were similarly a very sensitive topic for many people. That was because this signified a certain level of affiliation. Perhaps this was the exact reason why the Prefectural Governor of Pingxi Prefecture had gone through so much trouble to find a stand-in for his son to stay by his side.

After the birth of his son, the Prefectural Governor of Pingxi Prefecture had already found a stand-in for his son. Even the stand-in didn’t know he was living under someone else’s identity. This was simply a very terrifying scheme. Another thing that Yan Liqiang didn’t expect was the strength that the Prefectural Governor possessed. The power he released from his single finger was too great of a shock to Yan Liqiang. He had no clue as to what heights the Prefectural Governor’s cultivation realm had reached. However, he did not have a single doubt that the Prefectural Governor was much more powerful than the man in black whose name was Mo Leng.

The room was already empty by now. Yan Liqiang stayed in the room for a moment before he passed through the wall of the room like an invisible ghost. He came to the main street outside then flew towards the Law Enforcement Office.

...

As expected, announcements from the Law Enforcement Office were pasted in every corner of Pingxi City.

The announcement reported that Yan Liqiang and Yan Dechang were heinous criminals who abducted girls from respectable clans while Ye Xiao and Wang Haofei were courageous youths who had discovered Yan Liqiang’s suspicious activity, rescuing the girls whom Yan Liqiang had abducted in a joint effort. They then brought the three of them to Ye Xiao’s residence and were about prepare a report for the authorities. However, they didn’t expect Yan Liqiang to be so powerful, sinister, sly, and cunning. He waited for an opening to escape from Ye Xiao’s residence and then murdered the girls he had abducted along with Wang Haofei. Not only that, he also held Ye Xiao hostage and murdered a few guards in the manor. In his attempt to flee the scene, he was finally intercepted in the main street outside Ye Xiao’s residence. Yan Liqiang and his father had stubbornly put up a stiff resistance but were finally ordered to be executed on sight by the Prefectural Governor, a man of complete integrity. Ye Xiao was unfortunately murdered before Yan Liqiang’s death and consequently the Prefectural Governor lost his beloved son in the process of upholding the laws and ridding the empire of evil...

The announcement sent shockwaves across Pingxi City. Countless people praised the Prefectural Governor for his virtue and integrity. Yan Liqiang and Yan Dechang on the other hand were disrespected and reviled by countless people...

Shi Dafeng, who was at the Pingxi Prefecture Martial Arts Academy, was forcefully expelled from the academy the next day since he was close with Yan Liqiang.

...

When news traveled to Liuhe Town of Qinghe County, Butcher Liu and his son grew angry.

“I knew it all along that the father and son from the Yan Clan were no good, especially that Yan Liqiang. First among the top three my ass. He didn’t even use his little talent the right way and turned out to be a heinous criminal. Murders and arsons, he had done them all! He never really fit in with the rest since young. This must be karma. Luckily they were exposed in Pingxi City this time. Otherwise, Liuhe Town will suffer a calamity one day...” Butcher Liu stood at his pork vendor stand and repeated the same story every time someone came to buy meat...

...

When all of Pingxi City was holding a mourning ceremony for the courageous young lord of the Prefectural Governor, people at the mortuary of the Law Enforcement office were deliberately making things difficult for Qian Su and Zhou Tiezhu who had come to claim the corpses of Yan Liqiang and Yan Dechang. In the end, Qian Su only managed to retrieve their bodies after paying someone for their assistance in settling the matter. He then secretly cremated the bodies somewhere outside Pingxi City...

...

A few days later, Yan Liqiang watched Qian Su and Zhou Tiezhu secretly bury Yan Dechang and his ashes underneath two pine trees in a jungle on Mount Hundred Zhang in Qinghe County.

“Both of you can only find peace if I bury you here. If I buried you in Liuhe Town, your graves would probably be destroyed at any moment by the clans of the two victims from Pingxi City...” Qian Su muttered to the two urns. He couldn’t stop his tears from falling.

Zhou Tiezhu who had always been a manly man was sobbing profusely right at this moment.

...

“Take it away and burn it...” In the Lu Residence of Huanglong County, Old Master Lu looked sadly at the portrait of King Cobra that Yan Liqiang had left on a wooden board before he let out a sigh in the end and handed the portrait to Lu Peien. “How is the Yan Clan now?”

Back then when Lu Peien sent someone to bring over the portrait that Yan Liqiang had drawn, Old Master Lu had viewed it as a wondrous object at first glance and meticulously kept it as a collection. At this point in time, Old Master Lu had no choice but to take it out and burn it. He didn’t dare to keep it any longer, in case it would invite trouble.

“Qian Su already buried their ashes. The Yan Clan’s properties have already been confiscated, leaving only an old woman by the name of Mother Wu. I have already made some arrangements for her to be sent to the Temple of Gratitude...” Lu Peien replied.

“Alright, I guess that’s the least we can do!” Old Master Lu raised his head towards the heavens and let out a long sigh.

For the next seven days, Yan Liqiang was like a spectator in a cinema. He stood at the side and silently watched the series of events after his death.

He was there when Qian Su tried to retrieve his body at the Law Enforcement Office.

He was there when Shi Dafeng furiously tore up the announcement posted in the martial arts academy...

He was there when his lifeless body was reduced into ashes by the fire...

He was there to see Butcher Liu putting on an air of complacency at his pork stall...

He was also there when Old Master Lu handed over the portrait he had drawn of King Cobra to Lu Peien in the Lu Residence to burn...

He even personally followed Mother Wu to the Temple of Gratitude. He was only completely relieved when he saw Mother Wu living very comfortably there.

The sorrows of his friends and the people close to him, as well as the smug faces of the wretched, flashed before Yan Liqiang’s eyes.

At this very moment, a clear line was instantly drawn between comradeship and snobbery.

He was being reviled by countless people in Pingxi City. Even after his ashes had been buried by Qian Su and Zhou Tiezhu on Mount Hundred Zhang, there were still people asking around for his resting place in Liuhe Town – everything was as Qian Su had expected.

Ye Xiao and Wang Haofei had already become young heroes of righteousness. People sang praises everywhere in Pingxi City and Huanglong County at the mention of their names while he himself had become a heinous criminal beyond redemption.

Pingxi Prefecture’s Prefectural Governor’s reputation also reached new heights after this incident.

The Prefectural Governor had a courageous son who acted heroically in a just cause and the Prefectural Governor was faced with a very difficult choice during that crucial moment. In the end, he would rather sacrifice his son than let a criminal escape. His integrity was simply a blessing to the residents of Pingxi Prefecture.

Although Yan Liqiang had lived two lives, the emotions he felt over these few days was nothing like he had ever experienced before.

Such was life and the fickleness of human nature.

Only in movies and fairytales would good prevail over evil and survive until the end. Yet in reality, oftentimes, evil would triumph and prevail over good. While the evil happily enjoyed all the wine and beauty to their heart’s content, most of the good who had fought them with overflowing righteousness were already long dead while the weeds on their graves had already grown three feet tall.

‘A man as straight as a bowstring often meets a tragic end while a man as crooked as a hook is revered instead.’ [1] – it seemed like human nature, as summed up by the ancestors, remained unchanged over these thousand years.

Its implication was, ‘People who stand as straight as bowstrings will not meet good endings; meanwhile, people who are as crooked as hooks, who like to ingratiate themselves and live without morals will instead be revered, thus able to enjoy a life of glory and splendor’. The saying was used to expose and satirize the corrupt officials of feudalism and bureaucracy.

After witnessing the twisted truth, Yan Liqiang felt as if he had been baptized. It was as if he had achieved supreme enlightenment all of a sudden– that was if he could still be considered a living person in his current circumstance.

Yan Liqiang had no idea what he was right now. He couldn’t say he was alive because his body had been cremated to ashes. Yet he couldn’t say he was dead because he was still aware of everything around him and he could still experience emotions... He had a hunch that the strange state he was in right now was somehow related to the strange huge rock in his sea of consciousness.

As soon as he closed his eyes, that huge rock would automatically appear before his eyes. When he opened his eyes, everything would return to normal and the huge rock would disappear. Yan Liqiang tried countless times and the results were always the same.

He had no idea just how this huge rock had appeared in his sea of consciousness. He was guessing that it might’ve been the meteor that had hit him in his previous life because that mysterious huge rock would sometimes turn into the shape of a meteor and shuttle about in his sea of consciousness.

Yan Liqiang was aware that this huge rock was something extraordinary and it was most certainly something he wouldn’t dare to imagine. However, he didn’t know how to interact with this huge rock either.

The huge rock was ever changing yet it remained silent all the time. Even if he shouted at the top of his lungs, the huge rock didn’t give him any response at all no matter what he said to it.

A month after his ‘death’, Qian Su left the Weaponsmiths Quarter of his own accord, claiming to have resigned to return to his own hometown. He left Pingxi Prefecture and it was not known what became of him after that.

At first, Yan Liqiang didn’t know why Qian Su left. He only knew that he had left when he flew to the Weaponsmiths Quarter one day and overheard the discussion of the people that were there.

A clever person like Qian Su already knew about the possible risks when he took the initiative to take care of the funerals for Yan Liqiang and Yan Dechang. He also discovered that this incident had involved the Prefectural Governor. Hence, Qian Su fled Pingxi Prefecture on his own accord before the Prefectural Governor could make any moves.

Zhou Tiezhu opened a new blacksmith store in Liuhe Town. With a few of his own apprentices, he managed to establish his brand, Zhou Blades, and carried on forging weapons. Although the Zhou Blades brand wasn’t as well-established as the Yan Clan’s blacksmith store, the quality of the blades that Zhou Tiezhu forged were reliable and there were still some customers who would stop by to purchase his blades, especially the kukri knife Yan Liqiang had left behind. Sales gradually grew and Zhou Blades’ business slowly became established as it flourished; thus gaining some reputation.

The group of disciples from the Lu Residence and Lu Beixin were no longer suspended and once again returned to the martial arts academy...

Shi Dafeng had also left Pingxi Prefecture. His father found a master who ran a dojo in Canggu Prefecture of Gan Province with the help of someone so he could resume his martial arts studies.

...

Everyone carried on with their lives and were back on track. Yan Liqiang was the only who couldn’t return.

Half a month after Qian Su left Pingxi Prefecture, Yan Liqiang also did the same.

The flames in his heart still burned intensely. He wasn’t content with drifting around Pingxi Prefecture like a lonely, homeless ghost. He had to avenge Yan Dechang and himself. He needed a human body.

He believed that his current state could definitely be changed and that this wasn’t his end. If he couldn’t change the current state he was in right now, then it couldn’t have been possible for him to have lived through two lives. Otherwise, he should have been drifting on Earth ever since he was struck by a meteor in his previous world. Hence, he was convinced that there was definitely a way for him to change this – he just hadn’t found the key yet.

The first thing that popped into Yan Liqiang’s mind was reincarnation.

He was guessing that the rock in his sea of consciousness was probably protecting his consciousness, allowing him to reincarnate again to live another time. It just didn’t tell him that. Yan Liqiang didn’t know how to reincarnate either. The only way was through trial and error.

If he was going to reincarnate, Pingxi Prefecture was naturally out of the question. That was because the Prefectural Governor held the highest power in Pingxi Prefecture. If he was going to be reborn again, he would naturally lose if he had to live under Ye Tiancheng’s reign. Therefore, if he was going to be reborn, it’d be better for him to select a clan outside of Pingxi Prefecture. It’d be best if it were a powerful and influential clan. That way, at least when he was born, he would have a head start over others.

Holding onto this mindset, Yan Liqiang started his endless attempts. However, these endless attempts over a very long period of time totally turned Yan Liqiang into a ‘home-invading peeping tom’...

After leaving Pingxi Prefecture, his figure flashed like lightning as he roamed across a thousand miles and visited those particularly huge cities, searching for clans that appeared to be well-off and influential. At night, he would invade the bedrooms of those lavish manors by passing through the walls. Then he watched couples carry out the rituals of making a baby, in hopes that he could somehow trigger the requirements for reincarnation.

The number of sexual activities Yan Liqiang witnessed in just these two months far exceeded the amount of porn he had watched on Earth in his previous life. It was to the extent where even Yan Liqiang was worried he might grow a stye in his eye the moment he was successfully reborn.

In the end, Yan Liqiang realized that no matter how he watched or studied everything, nothing ever came out of it.

Since this approach didn’t work, Yan Liqiang tried to purposely stay close to pregnant women only to discover that it didn’t work either.

In the end, Yan Liqiang even tried to follow some midwives around, trying his luck every day around the places where babies were born. He spent the next few months doing this until even he felt like he could become a qualified midwife himself and it still didn’t work out for him.

Could it be that he could only reincarnate if he died?

With that thought in mind, Yan Liqiang started trying to commit suicide with various methods – getting struck by lightning, leaping into fire, jumping off the cliff, drowning in the river... He tried everything he could think of, but still, none of it worked. That was because all matter in the world was pretty much non-existent to him. When he chased the lightning during a heavy rain, the lightning passed through his body like air. In an attempt to burn himself, he found a blacksmith workshop and stood inside the furnace for one whole day. When he tried to jump off the cliff, his body floated in the air. Similarly, when he tried to drown himself in the river, he found himself floating on the water’s surface. He couldn’t even injure himself...

He struggled for seven or eight months and had lost count of the places he had been to. He made countless attempts but none of them worked. At this point, Yan Liqiang almost felt like he was going insane...

Smoke from chimneys, old trees, crows in the dusk...

Mountain village, small temple, a faraway place...

When Yan Liqiang came out from the temple, he felt as though he had an empty void in his heart. Despite the hurdles and countless attempts he made over these seven to eight months, he could still only wander around everywhere like a lonely, homeless ghost. He couldn’t feel coldness or hunger, and he did not need to eat or sleep. He wasn’t dead, and yet he wasn’t alive. Under such circumstances, even the mentally strongest person would inevitably feel the despair and hopelessness of the situation...

Yan Liqiang had no idea where he currently was. In any case, this place was already very, very far from Gan Province of the Great Han Empire.

The small temple on the hill of this mountain was named the Temple of Purity. There was only an old temple attendant who didn’t seem like a real monk in the temple. When Yan Liqiang left, the old temple attendant with graying hair was dozing off on the recliner by the door. He was drooling and seemed to be uncomfortably asleep. Hanging above the old temple attendant’s head was the Temple of Purity’s signboard which had been discolored since long ago. On both sides of the temple door were two lines of a Buddhist quote with peeling paint.

–Void the self of greed and be purified,

Free the self and turn from foolishness.

Looking at the two lines of Buddhist quote by the entrance of the temple, Yan Liqiang smiled wryly.

Yan Liqiang wasn’t a devoted believer of materialism [1] in his previous life, much less in this life. Therefore, since two months ago, Yan Liqiang couldn’t help but go inside any Daoist temple or shrine he came across on his journey to pray to the Gods and Buddha for another chance at reincarnation.

Although drifting around like this every day seemed to be fun, Yan Liqiang felt a suffocating fear as time went on. He was afraid that he would stay like this forever, as a mere floating spectator of the world who was drowning in loneliness despite being in the midst of ten million people.

There was a village at the foot of the mountain where the small temple was. The glow of the sunset filled the sky. This was the time when every family was preparing for dinner. Smoke could be seen rising from chimneys everywhere in the village, and it was a rather tranquil sight to behold.

Yan Liqiang glanced down the mountain but didn’t descend the mountain. A few months ago, he still enjoyed poking his nose into different households in the village to observe people’s everyday lives. But now, watching those people live on as a spectator had become torture to Yan Liqiang because it made him even more aware of the fact that he was a lonely homeless ghost that had been abandoned by the entire world.

Following the small mountain path behind the small temple, Yan Liqiang arrived at the summit before long. He sat alone on a boulder beneath a pine tree on the summit and he silently watched the sun set in the west as the dusking sky turned into nightfall.

He didn’t want to walk, make any attempts, or run today. All he wanted to do was just stay a night here all alone on this nameless, small mountain. Over these past few months, his body felt like the wind and he seemed to never feel any exhaustion. Yet, his heart had long worn out.

When the sun had set completely, Yan Liqiang extended his hands under the starry skies. He stared at his shadowless arms under the moonlight and shook his head helplessly before he shut his eyes.

As soon as Yan Liqiang shut his eyes, the familiar yet strange huge rock appeared before him again.

Even when watching a movie, no one would enjoy staring at the same scene forever. For the past seven or eight months, the longest amount of time Yan Liqiang spent staring at this strange rock with his eyes shut was more than ten hours. He even tried using different methods to interact with this stone but they were to no avail. However, after shutting his eyes today, he stared at that strange rock downheartedly and never opened his eyes after that. He also stopped himself from drifting everywhere.

An hour passed... then five... then ten... then twenty-four...

When the sun set and the starry skies emerged once again, Yan Liqiang, who had been staring at that rock for more than twenty-four hours, sensed that the strange, huge rock was suddenly shining with boundless radiance and it assumed a form he had never seen before. Just when Yan Liqiang was in shock, the huge rock emitted a brilliant, rainbow-like ray of light and it shined on Yan Liqiang’s body. Before Yan Liqiang could react, he felt that the strange, huge rock seemed to have suddenly turned into a huge magnet. It was producing a powerful, attractive force that was hard to resist. His entire body and consciousness turned into a ray of light in an instant and merged with that huge rock.

–Could this be reincarnation? Hehe, how he wished he could look a bit handsomer in his next life...

That was the last self-deprecating thought in Yan Liqiang’s mind before he lost his consciousness.

In the wake of that, Yan Liqiang felt as though he had a long, sweet dream.

...

“ACHOO!!” Feeling the itch on his nose, Yan Liqiang uncontrollably let out a sneeze. Then opened his eyes and woke up.

What came into Yan Liqiang’s line of sight was the first glimmer of light and a few remaining stars in the sky, along with the pine tree hanging above his head. His face was right next to some grass with dewdrops hanging from its tips. His single sneeze had caused the dewdrops to splash onto his face and he could feel the coolness.

Yan Liqiang blinked his eyes. Was he dreaming?

He raised his hands in a daze and put them before his eyes. It was a young pair of hands full of vigor. The luster of his skin was as shiny as ivory and his fingers were long and slender. They were brimming with an amazing yet somewhat strange aesthetic.

Looking at his hands, Yan Liqiang’s mind was blocked for a few seconds, unable to process what had just happened. His eyes widened like saucers after a few seconds had passed and leaped up from the floor as though he had been electrocuted.

Only after leaping up did Yan Liqiang realize that he was still currently on the summit of that same familiar nameless small mountain.

The pine tree was still the very same one from last night, as well as the boulder beside it. He looked down from the summit and spotted that the Temple of Purity wasn’t too far away.

What was going on? Wasn’t he reincarnating? Why was he still here? Was that all a dream...?

The mountain wind blew and Yan Liqiang couldn’t help but sneeze due to the coldness. “ACHOO!!!”

Then, he finally realized that he was completely butt-naked. He lowered his head to assess his body. It seemed like it was slightly different now but fortunately, it still had the same junk down there...

Yan Liqiang couldn’t restrain himself from yelling in excitement on the summit, causing a few birds in the forest nearby to fly away in shock. He then abruptly went silent.

After getting excited, he took another look at himself. Yan Liqiang suppressed the excitement in his heart and cautiously descended the mountain while grasping his way through the dark along the mountain path.

The mountain path was rough to walk as it was paved with some crushed rocks, dried up branches, and dead leaves. This was extremely uncomfortable and it was quite painful to walk barefooted on it. Before Yan Liqiang could make it far, the skin on the soles of his feet had already been torn by the dead branches and crushed rocks on the ground – they stung.

However, he wasn’t bothered by it. At this moment, the ability to feel bodily pain once again was simply a blessing to Yan Liqiang.

Yan Liqiang, who was naked, made it to the Temple of Purity with the quickest speed possible. He flipped himself over the walls and entered the monastery. It turned out that there was no one in this temple at night, including the old temple attendant. Yan Liqiang immediately found some old clothes that barely fit him in one of the storage rooms and he put on a pair of old shoes.

–For the clothes I borrowed today, I’ll repay in hundreds of folds someday!

After leaving his words on the wall of the storage room, Yan Liqiang left the Temple of Purity dressed in the old clothes.

When he arrived at the main street at the foot of the mountain, Yan Liqiang finally couldn’t hold it in anymore and howled wildly while he basked in the first glimmer of dawn. “I’M ALIVE, I’M ALIVE...!!”

In Yan Liqiang heart, he felt revitalized. The joy of being reborn and the fact he could once again plant his feet firmly on the ground made him feel like he was walking like on wind – extremely swift.

People who had never died wouldn’t know the value of life and how precious one’s body was. Only after dying for real once did Yan Liqiang deeply realize that it was truly good to be alive; he understood the real difficulty in obtaining his body.

While he was making his way, Yan Liqiang carefully sensed and realized that his new body was completely the same as his old one in terms of strength, speed, and reflexes. This body had similarly passed the Horse Stance stage and its bones and tendons had already been considerably stretched out. It was close to passing the Stretching Tendon and Extending Bone stage, and his cultivation realm actually remained exactly where it was before.

Even if he were reborn and possessed a brand new body, Yan Liqiang wasn’t completely knowledgeable about what had happened or what the entire process was like. The only thing he was certain about was that everything had to be related to that mysterious huge rock.

Recalling the experience from earlier, everything was simply so surreal as though it were a dream. Yan Liqiang had traversed over countless mountains and rivers, searching for a way to be reincarnated. He had also devised every possible method to interact with that mysterious huge rock in his sea of consciousness. After countless failures, he only realized in the end that the method to communicate with the mysterious huge stone was incredibly simple. He only needed to shut his eyes when he was nothing but a soul and silently gaze at that huge mysterious rock. Given a day’s worth of time, a reaction would naturally happen between him and that mysterious rock, bringing about an unexpected result.

This was completely in accordance with the saying, ‘You can wear out iron shoes in fruitless searching, but by sheer luck, you may find the thing lost without even searching for it.’

While walking alone on the road, Yan Liqiang’s mind gradually became clearer and he was able to get a clear picture of his own situation and the reality around him. From the looks of it, he probably couldn’t return to Pingxi Prefecture and Gan Province for the time being. It would be unrealistic for him to return for revenge with the measly strength he possessed because he would just be courting death as he wasn’t even a Martial Warrior yet. Ye Tiancheng, the Prefectural Governor of Pingxi Prefecture was incomparable to the Hong Clan of Liuhe Town. It could be said the former was totally up in the heavens while the latter was on the ground. Putting aside Ye Tiancheng’s absolute power and authority in Pingxi Prefecture which was capable of deceiving the masses, just his cultivation alone was as he had witnessed– incredibly powerful. His strength was not at the height that Yan Liqiang could strive for in just a short period of time. Although he decently skilled in archery, it would barely pose a threat to Ye Tiancheng.

Therefore, his most important mission now was to think up of a way to survive and find a place to settle down. Only then he could he slowly plan everything out and continuously improve his cultivation and strength to realize the possibility of exacting his revenge.

Yan Liqiang walked with long strides on the road. By noon, he had already covered a distance of a few dozen li. A flourishing town finally appeared before Yan Liqiang whose stomach was already rumbling with hunger.

During his journey, Yan Liqiang found something strange. Since dawn, he had already seen other travelers and horse carriages along the way. However, all those travelers would stare at him as if a flower had bloomed on his face, including the coachmen who couldn’t help but do a double take when they passed by Yan Liqiang on their horse carriages.

As he was nearing the town, the number of people on the road increased. Yan Liqiang realized that more people were taking notice of him. Men, women, elderly, youths – they were all staring at him. While he was walking on the street, the percentage of people turning their heads around was close to a hundred.

Was it because of what he was wearing?

Yan Liqiang lowered his head to apprehensively look at the clothes he was wearing. The clothes he had borrowed from the Temple of Purity was of a dusty gray color and showed signs of age. Yet it was still considerably clean. Although they were not aesthetically gorgeous clothes, they were good enough to be worn and provided ample coverage.

Yan Liqiang touched his face and head. His facial features felt normal and it wasn’t like he had an extra eye or a missing nose. There didn’t seem to be any horns or scales on his head either. So why were these people behaving so strangely around him?

An elderly woman in her forties or fifties carrying a basket was walking towards Yan Liqiang. When she saw Yan Liqiang, her eyes were instantly fixated on his face too and she turned her head to the side to continue staring. Her distraction caused her to accidentally bump into the person in front of her, and the basket she carried crashed onto the floor. The few eggs in it instantly broke and their yolks came leaking out of their shells.

Yan Liqiang couldn’t take it any longer after witnessing this scene. He looked around and spotted a store selling bronze mirrors nearby so he immediately went into the store.

The walls and counters in the store were decorated with many polished, bronze mirrors of various designs. The store owner was entertaining two female customers inside. Yan Liqiang wordlessly came before one of the bronze mirrors and took a good look at himself.

He was instantly petrified at the sight of the face reflected through the bronze mirror and his mind went totally blank.

The reflection in the bronze mirror still seemed to be a fourteen to fifteen-year-old youth. Yet it was no longer what Yan Liqiang looked like. It was an indescribably handsome face. The skin of that face was fair and had the luster of ivory. The pair of eyebrows on it were silky back and ended towards his temples, brimming with a heroic aura. Below them were eyes which were as deep as the night sky with a wonderful glow in them. Between his eyes was a sharp and straight nose which exuded the masculine aura of a manly man...

His eyes, nose, lips, brows, forehead, and ears – all the facial features and profile of his face were to the golden ratio. It looked like the most meticulously carved piece of art in the entire universe.

In terms of attractiveness, this face was simply heaven-defying. He was divinely handsome. He was radiant no matter where he was.

Even Yan Liqiang himself was dumbstruck at the sight of this face. Although he did realize that the skin and palms of his brand new body were different than his previous body, he didn’t expect the disparity to be this large. If he were to say that his face was only slightly handsome, then his current body and face would be insanely handsome. No wonder why he was attracting so much attention during his journey.

How could things turn out like this?

Yan Liqiang then instantly recalled the thought in his mind before he lost his consciousness last time – he wished he could look a bit handsomer in his next life.

Could it be that the profoundly mysterious huge rock sensed his thoughts and granted him this body according to his wish upon reincarnation?

WTF, he really was too handsome. Compared to this face, the teen idols on television in his previous life were nothing worth mentioning!

“Young Master, are you interested in buying a bronze mirror?” Unbeknownst to him, the owner of the bronze mirror store had come out and he asked him a question with a smile on his face.

Although Yan Liqiang was plainly dressed, his appearance and temperament gave off an aura to others that he had to be taken seriously. Therefore, the bronze mirror shop’s owner hurriedly came over to serve him.

A few young ladies who were selecting bronze mirrors were all secretly checking Yan Liqiang out. When they saw Yan Liqiang’s gaze turn on them, both their faces were tinted with an indescribable red as they shyly lowered their heads.

“No, I’m just browsing around!” Yan Liqiang shook his head. “Oh right, can you please tell me where is this place?”

The owner of the bronze mirror store was amused. “Young Master, could it be possible that you don’t know where you are?”

Yan Liqiang let out a sigh. “A few days ago, I accidentally lost my bag and then I also got lost. So I don’t know where I am either right now!”

In an era without GPS where a complete map didn’t even exist, it was an extremely common thing for travelers to get lost on a long journey. Yan Liqiang’s made-up excuse was perfect.

However, the truth was towards the final few months when Yan Liqiang was wandering around like a lonely homeless ghost: he was zooming around everywhere as quick as lightning every day. In just a day, he was able to traverse counties and provinces. Since he travelled too far, he was basically lost in the end. The only thing he remembered was he had been traveling east after leaving Gan Province.

“Oh, I see!” The owner of the bronze mirror store gave Yan Liqiang a look of sympathy. From the look he gave him, it seemed like he was treating Yan Liqiang like a young, wealthy lord in trouble. “This is Longkou Town in Fangshan Prefecture of Hu Province. If you exit here and follow the main road southeast for sixty to eighty li, you will reach Hu Provincial City...”

“Oh, alright. Thank you, Boss...” Yan Liqiang smiled. His smile instantly brought light to the humble dwelling. The eyes of those ladies who were silently watching him were already brimming with infatuation.

“You’re welcome, you’re very welcome...” The bronze mirror store owner replied humbly as though he was overwhelmed and flattered.

Yan Liqiang then exited bronze mirror store. He walked while trying to search for any memories of Hu Province he had left in his mind. Thanks to the fact that he had gone through countless books in the martial arts academy of Pingxi City over those few months, he was able to immediately pinpoint the location of Hu Province on the Great Han Empire map in his mind. Hu Province was located at the heart of the south-central region of the Great Han Empire and was one of the upper provinces in the empire. From the distance, this place was probably more than 20,000 li away from Gan Province.

Before he realized it, he had already walked a long way.

Yan Liqiang was like a walking signboard. No matter where he went, he was attracting the attention of everyone on the street. After realizing what was going on, Yan Liqiang no longer felt bothered about the attention. Since this was his first experience at being at the center of attention for looking too handsome, it was inevitable that he’d feel quite strange in his heart.

Yan Liqiang didn’t make it too far before his stomach growled. Yan Liqiang rubbed his stomach and his pocket which didn’t have a single copper coin in it, instantly feeling the harshness of being away from home. He salivated at the sight of steamed buns which cost two copper coins each that were sold by the street vendors and all kinds of snacks in the shops, but all he could do was swallow his saliva into his stomach. He trekked on along the street, trying to not glance at either side of the road until a decent-looking restaurant called the Cloud Crane Restaurant came into view by the street. Yan Liqiang then held his head high and stuck his chest out as he walked into the place with an indifferent expression on his face.

A waiter was serving customers at the entrance of the restaurant. Initially, he was thinking of stopping Yan Liqiang when he saw the clothes he was wearing. However, upon seeing Yan Liqiang’s handsome face and the cold temperament he exuded, the waiter hesitated for only less than 0.1 seconds before his face broke into a smile. He then immediately bowed and guided Yan Liqiang into the shop.

“Table for one, please sit here...”

At noon, there weren’t really a lot of customers in restaurants. Only one-third of the seats were occupied and there were many empty tables. Yan Liqiang scanned the restaurant’s environment the moment he went in and picked a seat closest to the window on the first floor.

“What would you like to order, Sir?” The waiter’s attitude was rather pleasant, but his eyes couldn’t help but wander a few times to the old clothes that Yan Liqiang was wearing.

How could Yan Liqiang be clueless about what the waiter was thinking?

“No need for trouble. Just bring me the Eight Treasures Feast and some stir-fried vegetables on the side...” Yan Liqiang said this causally on purpose, activating his innate, pretentious talent to the max.

“What is the Eight Treasures Feast..?” The waiter looked at Yan Liqiang in bewilderment.

“Huh, don’t you serve that here?” Yan Liqiang frowned.

The waiter put up a smile. “Well, why don’t you enlighten me about that so that I can tell our chef in the kitchen? Perhaps he might be able to make that for you!”

“It’s very simple. The Eight Treasures Feast includes Chunao, Chunmu, Baotun, Daozhen, Zi’ao, Sangan, Gaobao and Panggai [1] which are served in a set by using ingredients from oxen, goat, elk, deer, river deer, pigs, and dogs...”

The waiter’s face went stiff. “Oh, I’m afraid our humble shop might not be able to prepare all these ingredients on such a short notice. Would you like to order something else, Sir?”

“Alright, I will change my order to a new one!” Yan Liqiang pickily scanned around the shop before he spoke as though he lacked better options. “I guess the Matsutake Fish Maw Soup, Double Flavored Prawn Balls, Snow Flake Fish Casserole, Bird’s Nest Autumn Pear Soup, Assorted Goose Web Duck Tongue Dish and the Dragon Snake Hundred Sparrow Soup will do then.”

The waiter stared at him blankly. He had practically never heard of these dishes before. Even if he could guess the ingredients of a few of the dishes Yan Liqiang mentioned, he didn’t know how to cook them. The waiter’s stature instantly shrunk three inches as the smile on his face intensified. “Sir, our humble shop does indeed have goose webs and duck tongues. Can you enlighten me on how to make this Assorted Goose Web Duck Tongue Dish that you speak of?”

“It’s very simple. Just boil the goose webs and duck tongues thoroughly, debone them, then cook it again with chicken soup that has salt and hundred-year-old wild ginseng in it. Scoop it out and then serve it with wine sauce or fermented rice oil. It’s simple to prepare yet it’s so delicious...” Yan Liqiang had never eaten this dish, but he had read it before. It was one of the dishes from Jia Manor in the novel, ‘A Dream of Red Mansions’.

“T-This... I’m afraid our humble shop can’t deliver this dish!” The waiter wiped the cold sweat on his forehead, not daring to further inquire about the other dishes.

“Forget about it then. Just bring me the signature dishes of this shop. I’ll see what suits my taste...” Yan Liqiang said without a choice.

The waiter then went off with his shoulders hanging while secretly muttering to himself about young lords from those wealthy clans dressing up in old clothes to deliberately look poor – it seemed to be the latest trend over these few years and those lords thought it was funny to prank people like that...

The waiter went to the back and explained the situation to the shop owner. The shop owner didn’t dare to take this incident lightly and he hurriedly ordered the kitchen to whip up their best dishes. They served Yan Liqiang attentively and brought a table full of food.

Yan Liqiang ate slowly while he silently watched the situation outside on the street through the window and eavesdropped in on the conversations of other patrons in the small restaurant.

A father and son sat at the table not too far from him. Both of them were chatting while eating. From the content of their conversation, Yan Liqiang discovered that the father was sending his son to Hu Provincial City to participate in the recruitment of disciples in Soul Mountain Sect’s Hu Provincial Branch, which was one of the major sects.

As one of the major sects in the world, the main branch of the Soul Mountain Sect wasn’t located in Hu Province, but Ling Province [2] of the Great Han Empire. World-renowned major sects like these had branches or institutions in many provinces of the Great Han Empire. In Hu Province, the Soul Mountain Sect had a branch here which specifically recruited local disciples that had potential in Hu Province. The outstanding individuals among their disciples would then be given an opportunity to cultivate at the main branch of the Soul Mountain Sect in the future.

Yan Liqiang was tempted upon hearing this piece of information. He recalled the instant effect of the pill that the Soul Mountain Sect had given to Old Master Lu. Compared to the official martial arts academy of the Great Han Empire which could only nurture one to meet Martial Warrior standards, the standards of institutions of these major sects were higher and they were much more influential. As a disciple of these major sects, becoming a Martial Warrior might merely be only the beginning...

If he wished to get revenge, he’d need to learn some skills. If he wished to learn some skills, he’d need to find a reliable support...!

Maybe he could give it a try there!

Yan Liqiang was instantly fired up.

There was a very busy main street just outside the Cloud Crane Restaurant. In the middle of the street was a bridle path where people would occasionally gallop through on their rhinodrake steeds or other mounts.

When Yan Liqiang unhurriedly ate the meal until he was about 70% done, he suddenly dropped his chopsticks and stood up at the sight of someone dashing through on his rhinodrake steed outside. He stared at the rhinodrake steed that sped off and his eyes widened into saucers. “STOP RIGHT THERE, XU SAN, DON’T YOU DARE RUN...!” He shouted loudly.

As soon as Yan Liqiang finished yelling, he directly jumped out of the restaurant from the window that was the street. He then broke into a sprint and chased that rhinodrake steed at lightning speed...

The person on the rhinodrake steed didn’t hear Yan Liqiang’s shout and didn’t even know who Xu San was. He just continued galloping away on his steed and didn’t realize that Yan Liqiang was running behind him. However, even if he did, he probably wouldn’t care either. There were so many people walking along the street that no one would care about who was running.

The moment Yan Liqiang jumped from the window, the waiter of the restaurant couldn’t react for the longest time. By the time he did and chased him out of the shop, Yan Liqiang was already a few hundred meters away. The waiter shouted while he chased him. “SIR, SIR, YOU HAVEN’T PAID YET...!” Yan Liqiang pretended he didn’t hear that and ran even faster.

After chasing him for a while, the waiter realized that the gap between him and Yan Liqiang was growing farther and farther apart. Yan Liqiang’s speed left him so far behind that all he could see was dust. In the end, the waiter could do nothing but helplessly watch Yan Liqiang chasing ‘Xu San’ who was riding on his rhinodrake steed as he vanished from his line of sight...

By the time he returned to the shop and explained to the owner about how Yan Liqiang had outrun him, the owner wasn’t sure if Yan Liqiang was someone who dined and dashed or if he had really gone off to chase someone. In the end, he could only take it as his rotten luck and ordered the waiter to clean up the remaining dishes from Yan Liqiang’s table.

“Owner, I will pay for the young man who left earlier. Keep the change...”

Just when the shop owner was sighing and calculating his loss, one of the customers came before him, took out a jiao of silver, and lightly placed it on the counter.

The shop owner was extremely happy and he lifted his head only to find out that it was an elderly man dressed in blue who was standing in front of the counter. This old man was also one of the customers in the shop who sat in one of the corners on the first floor of the shop. He had ordered a pot of wine, a plate of deep-fried peanuts along with two side dishes, and he had enjoyed the wine all by himself.

...

After the elderly man made the payment, he left the restaurant. He looked towards the direction where Yan Liqiang had disappeared off to with a strange smile on his face.

...

Yan Liqiang ran about five or six kilometers out of this town in one breath. When he saw a bamboo forest by the road, he turned into it and took half hour break there. He came out from the bamboo forest again only after making sure that no one had chased him all the way here. Then he made his way towards Hu Provincial City.

Since he had to dine and dash today, he’d naturally pick the best place to do it. Only then he would have enough strength to continue on with his journey. If he had snatched two steamed buns by the roadside, it wouldn’t be called a ‘dine and dash’. It would be called ‘a disgrace’ instead.

At dusk, the majestic Hu Provincial City finally appeared before Yan Liqiang...

“Young Master Yan, this is Hu Provincial City. The city gate is just a little beyond this place. It stays open throughout the day and there’s no curfew. The Soul Mountain Sect’s Hu Provincial Branch is in the city. You’ll be able to find it easily if you ask around in the city...”

“You have my thanks, Uncle Zhao!”

Yan Liqiang leaped off the horse carriage which was transporting some wood and thanked the uncle who drove the carriage. He had run into this horse carriage while he was in the middle of his journey. When the coachman saw Yan Liqiang hurrying along all by himself, he immediately asked him if he was making his way to Hu Provincial City and offered him a ride. Hence, Yan Liqiang hopped onto the horse carriage in the middle of his journey, saving his stamina from walking. He chatted with the coachman during the entire journey here.

It seemed like the saying, ‘A handsome person is loved by everyone who sees him and will be offered a ride if seen by car’, wasn’t an exaggeration at all.

“You’re very welcome. At any rate, it was on the way!”

The coachman smiled with compassion and waved at Yan Liqiang. He then whipped his horse with a yell and went toward another direction. The wood on his carriage was to be delivered to another manor outside of the city, so he had to part with Yan Liqiang here.

Yan Liqiang observed the city before his eyes before he marched towards the city gate in the distance.

The provincial cities of the upper provinces rarely experienced war turmoil. Therefore, they were able to flourish and magnificently develop over the history of more than a thousand years. Each of them could be considered huge cities. The walls of Hu Provincial City standing before Yan Liqiang in the distance seemed to reach the height of forty or fifty meters. The height of the city walls alone exceeded a ten-story building. The gate tower situated above the city wall was also about seven or eight stories high. Just the gate tower alone was so much more majestic and glorious than Osaka Castle, which Yan Liqiang had visited in Japan during his vacation back in his previous life.

Braziers were placed spaces apart from each other on the gate tower. The sky had only darkened and a fire had been lit in those braziers. The flames burned intensely, illuminating the entire city wall. In the light of the flames, rows of soldiers could be seen patrolling the gate tower.

Yan Liqiang had gotten quite a lot of useful information from the chat he had with the coachman on his way here.

The most astonishing piece of information to Yan Liqiang was the current time period. Apparently it was already the tenth lunar month of the 16th year of Yuanping’s reign in the Great Han Empire.

Yan Liqiang still clearly remembered that when he went up to that small mountain where the Temple of Purity was at ‘yesterday’, it was still the tenth lunar month in the 13th year of Yuanping’s reign in the Great Han Empire. He had no idea how he came to possess this body. It just felt as if he had slept and thought only a night had passed. Little did he expect what felt like merely ‘a night’ to him was actually three whole years. It seemed like obtaining this new body was not an easy feat, at least in terms of time because it actually took more than a thousand days and nights.

Over these three years, the Great Han Empire didn’t seem to be very peaceful and there were some undercurrents in it. Uncle Zhao, the coachman, seemed to know that the northern part of the Great Han Empire seemed to have fought two wars with the Chaman people. Things had also been tense between the Gan Province, the Feng Province and the Dark Ram Tribe. In these two years, four or five vassal states broke their ties with the Great Han Empire one after another and joined the New Crescent Dynasty. The White Lotus Society in a few of the provinces to the south rose from the dead and seized two county towns, wiping a few major clans out in the process. They claimed to be building some sort of White Lotus Heaven, causing turmoil in a few places...

However, Hu Provincial City, which was before his eyes, seemed to be unaffected by the storms happening tens of thousands of li away. The entire city still seemed to be quite normal. The city gate was bustling with activity and the traffic going in and out of the town was endless.

Arriving at the city gate, Yan Liqiang initially wanted to enter the city; however, he soon found himself unable to advance due to the entrance fee of three copper coins.

Touching his empty pockets, Yan Liqiang turned around and left the city gate. You would only truly understand the saying, ‘A man without money is no man at all’, when you were left with empty pockets.

Since he had to walk quite a distance, he didn’t dare to eat until he was too full during his free lunch from earlier. In addition to Yan Liqiang’s increased appetite ever since he started cultivating Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing and the fact that this body before him was still completely the same as his previous body, he was already hungry after one long afternoon considering the stamina he had exhausted while traveling.

The predicament of having no money had already instilled a deep sense of crisis in Yan Liqiang.

Getting into the city required money, eating required money, clothes required money, accommodations required money, and even getting some toilet paper to wipe your butt required money. Having no money was akin to having broken limbs, putting one in an extremely difficult position.

Although he could dine and dash once or twice, there was no way he could do that every day. Similarly, living accommodations, traveling, and daily necessities all required money.

No, he really needed to think up of a way to earn some money. Otherwise, he wouldn’t even be able to get inside the city gate at all and surviving would become a big issue.

Yan Liqiang pondered while making his way towards the marketplace nearby.

An old and big city like Hu Provincial City was already packed with people. Therefore, many places outside the city were very lively too with many living there and there were also a few busy marketplaces. By nightfall, when the red and orange lanterns were lit in those marketplaces, that was the most lively time of the day.

As a proletariat without any means of production or connections, it was definitely not easy to find money in an unfamiliar place. Yan Liqiang tried to come up with ways to earn money while walking.

He reckoned that it probably wouldn’t be very difficult for him to find an ordinary job or labor work to earn money like an ordinary person if he wanted to. However, this wasn’t a path Yan Liqiang desired as this type of job wasn’t very rewarding and it was so slow that it was only enough for one to scrape by with meager living conditions. It wouldn’t be able to resolve the desperate situation he was facing right now. All he wanted to do now was to take an exam at the Soul Mountain Sect’s Hu Provincial Branch. He heard that there were only three days left in their disciple recruitment period. If he missed this round, he had no idea how long he’d need to wait for the same opportunity to appear again.

Apart from this path, he had inherited his father’s trade. He still possessed a little knowledge on smithing. However, smithing would require a blacksmith store and this was something he lacked right now. Even if he could find a blacksmith store, no one would allow a newcomer to hold a hammer in the blacksmith store due to the nature of the industry. Even if he had money to rent a place, it wouldn’t work as he feared the weapons he created might offend some customers which would end up ruining the blacksmith store’s reputation.

After much consideration, Yan Liqiang finally thought up of a method which would allow him to earn money within the shortest amount of time with the least amount of resources – by painting portraits!

He didn’t expect for the first trade that got him into society from his previous life to come in handy at a time like this.

Only a few people had seen his portrait of King Cobra, and that had turned into nothing but ashes by the Lu Clan instead of being given away to someone else. The place he was currently at was millions of miles away from Gan Zhou, so he didn’t need to worry about his identity being exposed through his drawing. Even if it did, he had nothing to fear because that Yan Liqiang in the past had already died...

...

Just when Yan Liqiang settled down into his new lifestyle, he arrived at a marketplace that was outside Hu Provincial City. Due to his heaven-defying attractiveness, he attracted quite a lot of attention of the people at the marketplace as they turned their heads.

Since he was under the surveillance of too many gazes from the surroundings, he didn’t realize that one of them was quite ‘unusual’...

To be able to paint portraits for someone else, he’d at least need to have the tools to do it. Yan Liqiang, who was walking in the midst of the marketplace, was thinking of where to find things like charcoal cores, planks, or hard paper and how to launch his business when a person unexpectedly came before him, blocking his path.

It was a gaudily dressed middle-aged man in his forties. Yet the brocade robes he wore on him did little to conceal the wretched aura he exuded. The person came before Yan Liqiang and smiled, flashing his disgusting yellow teeth.

“Young man, is this your first time here in Hu Provincial City?”

The moment this man opened his mouth, he instantly reminded Yan Liqiang of those pimps he saw outside train stations in a few cities back in his previous life who acted as agents and ‘introduced girls’ to others.

Yan Liqiang casted a single glance at the man and frowned slightly. “So what?”

“Young man, are you looking for a job that can earn you a lot of money quickly? An annual earning of a few hundred thousand taels of silver will surely be a cinch...” The man sized Yan Liqiang up along with the old clothes he was wearing with an earnest face.

“No I’m not...” Yan Liqiang shook his head and directly walked past him. The nonsense this man was spouting might work on other naive youths, but Yan Liqiang never believed that a pie would fall into your lap out of the blue [1]. In this situation, the bigger the pie was, the deeper the dangerous pit was behind it.

The man was shocked. He didn’t expect Yan Liqiang to turn down his offer so bluntly. He quickly chased after him again and prattled on persistently. “I’m just offering this to you as goodwill. Seeing a striking young man like yourself, I can tell that you have just left home to make a living. You are all alone here and unfamiliar with the place, why don’t you join me for some tea at the restaurant over there?”

The man immediately grabbed one of Yan Liqiang’s hands while speaking and wanted to pull him over to the restaurant on the other side.

“Unhand me...” Yan Liqiang stopped walking and looked at the man with a frown.

“Hehe, don’t be so unapproachable, young man. Your parents never told you the importance of having more friends when you are away from home?” The man laughed like a sly fox. His hand was still firmly grasping Yan Liqiang’s wrist while he completely ignored Yan Liqiang’s words. “Come, come, come. Big Brother will treat you to a good meal there. Let’s have a nice chat...”

Yan Liqiang wordlessly jerked his hand free, instantly escaping the man’s grasp. He and continued walking away.

“Sigh, why must you be so unreasonable, young man? Big Brother just wanted to treat you to a meal...” The man was still smiling and he reached out towards Yan Liqiang’s wrist.

Yan Liqiang was aware that this man was bullying him for his young and inexperienced demeanor. Under normal circumstances, a real fourteen or fifteen-year-old greenhorn probably wouldn’t know how to handle such a situation. If they really treated this man as a warm-hearted person and followed him for a meal, only God knew what would happen to them afterwards.

Before that man could touch Yan Liqiang’s wrist, he had already lifted his hand up and delivered a slap across his face.

SLAP!! Yan Liqiang’s slap landed squarely on one of the man’s cheeks. He had only exerted a little force and the man was knocked to the floor, dazed from Yan Liqiang’s slap.

“SCRAM!” Yan Liqiang berated him coldly.

It took that man almost half a day to get up. He touched his swelling cheek and glared daggers at Yan Liqiang’s figure in the distance. “Just you wait...” he vehemently said before he pathetically crawled to the other side of the marketplace and vanished...

“Young Master, that man just now was Wu Tao. He’s a broker from the Rising Moon Tower in Hu Provincial City who’s an unreasonable hoodlum. Now that you’ve hit him, you should hurry and run before you get into trouble. That person will definitely send someone after you. Wu Tao is a vicious, merciless, and sinister man. You can’t fall into his hands. Countless young men who had just arrived at Hu Provincial City have already become his victims...” Before Yan Liqiang had managed to go too far, a kind old man approached him from behind on the street. He whispered a warning to Yan Liqiang to look out for that man who might come back for revenge.

“Thank you for the information, Old Man. May I ask what sort of place is the Rising Moon Tower?” Yan Liqiang blinked in curiosity.

“Some men don’t fancy women, but men instead. The Rising Moon Tower is a place where these kinds of men may seek pleasure. There are many beautiful male escorts in the tower. In Hu Provincial City, the people from the Rising Moon Tower mustn’t be offended...”

Beautiful male escorts?

Yan Liqiang almost choked when he heard that word. These so-called ‘male escorts’ were selling their bodies and actually cross-dressed to please their male patrons.

That person named Wu Tao from earlier had probably laid down a trap and tried to deceive him into becoming one of those male escorts who would sell a piece of their ass to others at Rising Moon Tower!

What the f*ck!

This was actually the first time something like this had happened to Yan Liqiang over his two lifetimes. He couldn’t believe he would get into this kind of trouble just for being too handsome.

After giving Yan Liqiang a soft warning, the kind-hearted old man parted ways with Yan Liqiang when he saw an intersection in the marketplace ahead of them, probably afraid that someone from the Rising Moon Tower would have arrived to take their revenge.

Just a few minutes ago, Yan Liqiang was still thinking about how to earn a living from painting. In just the blink of an eye, a hoodlum had managed to get him into a mess like this.

At this very moment, Yan Liqiang recalled the Blue Faced Beast, Yang Zhi, from ‘Water Margin’ who sold his precious saber [1]. Oftentimes, even if you didn’t seek for trouble, trouble would come looking for you.

However, the plot had been altered so he could only act according to the situation. Besides, Yan Liqiang wasn’t Yang Zhi.

Yan Liqiang walked while contemplating. He slowly squinted his eyes, giving off a sharp and heated gaze.

The marketplace was very lively with all the food and drinks. There were quite a number of vendor stands lined up by the roadside. Yan Liqiang couldn’t even shop for more than a few minutes before he felt a few piercing gazes on him. When he tried to linger in front of a candy seller’s vendor stand, Yan Liqiang stole a glance at the crowd behind him. He discovered two men in their thirties already trailing behind him in the distance. Though the marketplace was crowded, the two men tried to blend in with the crowd and pretended to shop around. The distance between them and Yan Liqiang was only seventy or eighty meters, but Yan Liqiang still managed to detect their strange behaviors.

Both of them were fully dressed in trendy black training garbs. Their faces were pale and their gazes were sinister. Anyone could tell from just a glance that they were not kind people.

Yan Liqiang deliberately went for a few rounds on the streets of the marketplace. Both of them continued following him too. No matter where Yan Liqiang went, they followed. With this, Yan Liqiang was very certain about one thing.

He guessed that it was probably because the marketplace was too crowded and busy, so these people didn’t dare to openly lay a finger on him in fear of arousing public anger. Therefore, they were sent to stalk him first.

Yan Liqiang spotted an exceptionally prosperous roasted meat stall with quite a number of people crowded in front of it picking their food. The boss seemed to be awfully busy so Yan Liqiang joined the crowd and watched for quite a while before he left.

There were a few exits in the marketplace. After touring the marketplace once, Yan Liqiang came back to the entrance he entered from earlier. The moment he exited the marketplace, he immediately broke into a sprint towards the road he had taken on a horse carriage outside the city.

Half a minute later, Wu Tao, with his swollen face, quickly appeared at this entrance of the marketplace along with those two men at the same time.

“Where is that little bastard?” Wu Tao seethed through his teeth while fiercely scanning the surroundings. “Once I get that little bastard in my hands, I’ll show him my true colors!”

“Master Wu, look...!” The person in black training garbs beside him pointed into the distance. “That guy escaped...!”

Wu Tao lifted his gaze and saw a figure sprinting in the distance roughly more than 200 meters away under the moonlight. Who else would it be if it wasn’t Yan Liqiang?

“GO AFTER HIM!” Wu Tao wasted no time in leading the other two to chase after Yan Liqiang.

When he caught up to Yan Liqiang, he simply did not want to only take revenge and make Yan Liqiang regret it, the most important thing was still money. How could Wu Tao let such a treasure like Yan Liqiang slip away from him? Fortunately, this wasn’t the first time Wu Tao and the other two had to do something like this. The three of them ran after Yan Liqiang as hard as they could.

Under the starry skies, Yan Liqiang sprinted in the opposite direction, leading the three people behind him towards the road he had come from during the day.

...

At this moment, the crowd in front of the roasted meat stall back at the marketplace had thinned out a little. The boss of the stall only realized now that one of the meat hooks he used to hang his roasted meat on was missing.

...

The further away they were from Hu Provincial City, the less travelers there were on the road. After running five or six thousand meters away, the travelers basically disappeared as the brightly lit village disappeared past the roadside. The scenery on either side of the road grew more bleak and the fields became scarce while weeds and wood became a common sight.

“STOP RIGHT THERE, YOU LITTLE BASTARDDD!” Wu Tao yelled while chasing along with the other two. At this point, the distance between the three of them and Yan Liqiang had been reduced by more than half. Initially, they were more than 200 meters apart, but now they were only a little more than 100 meters away from him. This motivated the three of them and they refused to give up so easily.

Needless to say, Yan Liqiang wasn’t going to stand still. He continued running towards the place in his memory.

The sprint lasted about thirty to forty minutes. They kept running until they were at the foot of a hill which was more than ten kilometers away from Hu Provincial City. Under the gaze of the three men behind him, Yan Liqiang quickly ran into the forest next to the roadside.

By now, the three people behind him were already panting hard like tired dogs. Fortunately, they still had the stamina to go on. When they saw Yan Liqiang entering the forest at the side, the three of them followed suit without any second thoughts.

At this point, there weren’t many people on the road anymore, much less in the forest.

“Be careful...” Wu Tao was already all pale from all the running. He couldn’t speak without panting. “Be careful in case that little bastard is trying to pull something...”

“Master Wu, he’s outnumbered since there’s three of us. What is there to be afraid of? What can a fourteen-year-old child possibly do? I can easily strangle him single-handedly. It will be fine as long as the three of us stick together. That child is most likely tired and found somewhere to hide...” The person beside Wu Tao said this while panting. He pushed away the branches in front of him and walked in front. The person behind him thought for a moment and decided to unsheath the dagger hanging at his waist.

All the three of them entered the forest.

The inside of the forest was poorly lit, especially during nighttime. The shadows of the trees were dense, causing the illumination of the moon and the stars in the sky to appear as if it had been cut into pieces. This greatly affected one’s visibility. Only the buzzing noises of bugs and the sound of running water from the river nearby could be heard.

...

Wu Tao and the rest ventured a few hundred meters into the forest in just a flash. The three of them opened their eyes and searched for Yan Liqiang’s figure in the forest with their jaws clenched.

All of a sudden, a noise erupted near the bushes below a tree that was nearby. The three of them instantly rushed over without thinking and split open the bushes.

However, there was nothing hiding in the bushes...

Just when the three of them were baffled, a dark shadow emerged behind them silently, hanging upside down from one of trees beside them – Yan Liqiang was hanging from the tree by his legs, and his head and torso dangled from the tree. His eyes gleamed coldly and he was holding an iron hook that was of more than a foot long.

“Strange, could it have been a rat or rabbit just now?” The moment the man in black that was holding a dagger turned his head around, his eyes met Yan Liqiang who was hanging upside down. The distance between them was less than a meter.

Before that person could even scream, Yan Liqiang had already struck out with the iron hook in his hand. The sharp end of the hook almost instantly penetrated his eye and pierced into his brain. That man collapsed before he could even utter a word in time.

Yan Liqiang then jumped off the tree with a roll. The moment the other man in black heard movement behind him and abruptly turned around, the hook in Yan Liqiang’s hand had already pierced his throat. The man let out a blood-curdling scream and he placed his hand over his throat before he collapsed on the ground.

Yan Liqiang’s unexpected appearance and the blood-curdling scream of the man in black had frightened Wu Tao who was at the side. He let out a terrified scream and wasted no time in dashing towards the exit of the forest, abandoning his other two companions.

Yan Liqiang flipped to get up, but since he wouldn’t be able to chase after Wu Tao in time, he conveniently picked up a fist-sized rock from the ground and powerfully hurled it at Wu Tao.

The distance between them wasn’t that huge, so the rock hit Wu Tao’s leg, knocking him down with his miserable shriek.

Fresh blood flowed out like water from the neck of the man dressed in black who wasn’t dead yet on the floor. He covered the wound on his neck with his hand as he watched Yan Liqiang who stood before him in panic. Yan Liqiang raised the ice-cold and sinister-looking hook high up in the air under the moonlight, looking like a butcher who was walking in the dark.

“No...”

For uttering that word, the hook Yan Liqiang was holding ruthlessly came down again, right into his chest...

Yan Liqiang flung the weapon in his hands firmly and coldly. Every downward stab was merciless and the sharp tip of the hook was aimed at the man’s vital parts – his neck, his head, and his chest...

Once... Twice... Thrice... Four times... Ten times...

Blood splattered everywhere from the man’s neck and head, covering Yan Liqiang’s entire face.

After getting stabbed more than ten times, the person on the ground had stopped breathing and his body been terribly mutilated.

Yan Liqiang wiped the blood which had splattered on his face and turned around, making his way towards Wu Tao who was just nearby.

Wu Tao had crawled a few meters away. The rock Yan Liqiang hurled at him earlier had instantly broken his shin and he couldn’t even stand up right now.

Hearing the movement coming from behind him, Wu Tao, who was crawling on the ground, instantly turned his head around. The sight of Yan Liqiang and his blood-smeared face had instantly frightened him stiff. It was only at this moment that Wu Tao realized how terrifyingly cold Yan Liqiang’s perfectly handsome face was. It was almost demonic.

“I am from the Rising Moon Court. If you dare to lay a finger on me...” Wu Tao screamed.

Yan Liqiang remained silent. He went over to Wu Tao and wordlessly raised his hand before bringing it down mercilessly. The hook landed squarely on the crown of Wu Tao’s head, stuffing the rest of Wu Tao’s sentence right back into his stomach.

Wu Tao’s body twitched and twisted in pain. Yan Liqiang stepped on Wu Tao’s back with one foot and then once again lifted his hand. The icy hook was repeatedly brought downwards in a merciless manner. Every time it did, another deep, bloody hole opened up on Wu Tao’s body.

After about ten times, Wu Tao stayed motionless...

The gloomy forest reeked of blood...

Yan Liqiang tightly gripped the hook in his hand as he panted violently while watching the three bodies on the ground.

He hadn’t eaten anything since noon. A run of more than ten kilometers with three people chasing behind him and an intensive workout within a short period of time on top of that – killing three people in a row was indeed extremely exhausting for a youth who wasn’t even a Martial Warrior yet.

The commotion from the cold and violent killing earlier seemed to have frightened the bugs in the forest. The buzzing noises around Yan Liqiang faded instantly in just a short amount of time. A few birds that were perched on the tree were also startled and had flown away. The forest was in complete silence.

The moment Yan Liqiang picked up the hook he had conveniently stolen from the roasted meat stall in the marketplace, he had already chosen this place as the location to send his pursuers to hell.

He saw this forest by the roadside on his way here a few hours ago when he was riding on a horse carriage. It was the most suitable place for killing people. There was also a rapid river nearby which was an ideal place for dumping corpses.

If Wu Tao and the rest didn’t chase him all the way here, he wouldn’t have murdered them so violently. Yet the three of them did that, so there wasn’t much room left for negotiation anymore. It didn’t take a genius to figure out the consequences of falling into the hands of a group of people who leeched off the flesh of male escorts. Therefore, the moment this chase began, Yan Liqiang clearly understood that either he or these guys would have to die.

Perhaps even Yan Liqiang himself didn’t realize the fact that he had become even more apathetic and skillful in scheming after his reincarnation this time.

After panting for two minutes, Yan Liqiang’s breathing finally evened out.

He flipped Wu Tao’s body over and started searching.

Wu Tao wore a golden ring on his finger. Yan Liqiang took a single glance and didn’t touch it. A ring was too much of a personal item. Whether he kept it with him or pawned it off, it would leave some sort of trail pointing back to him as others would be able to recognize the ring. Yan Liqiang didn’t wish for himself to end up like King Cobra.

The next thing Yan Liqiang found was the dagger hanging from Wu Tao’s waist. Wu Tao didn’t even manage to take it out just now, or perhaps he thought there was no need for him to do that. Yan Liqiang took a look at it and then left it on Wu Tao’s body. This item wasn’t useful to Yan Liqiang right now. What he needed the most now was money.

Finally, Yan Liqiang discovered a money pouch on Wu Tao. He opened it and found seven or eight taels of silver along with a few dozen copper coins.

There weren’t any seals on the silver and copper coins so Yan Liqiang emptied the money pouch, took all the money, and shoved the empty money pouch back on Wu Tao.

He felt around again. Upon discovering there was nothing else on Wu Tao, Yan Liqiang shifted his gaze towards the other two men dressed in black.

Perhaps there were a few men who would forget to bring their brains along with them, but reality had proven that when men were away from home, hardly any of them would forget to bring their money pouches. The other two men in black were probably some sort of hired thugs at the Rising Moon Tower, but they also carried money pouches on them.

They didn’t carry a lot of money on them. Each of them only had two or three taels of silver and a few dozen copper coins. Needless to say, Yan Liqiang wasn’t hesitant to take all the money.

When Yan Liqiang was done taking his spoils of war, he picked up his hook and hooked it on the back one of the men in black. He dragged him like a dead dog to the riverside, then turned around to drag Wu Tao and the other man in black with the same hook in a similar fashion.

The river before him was very wide, more than fifty meters in width, which was situated at the edge of this forest. The river water flowed rapidly and the sounds of rushing water could be heard. When he passed by this place during his journey earlier today, the coachman told him that the name of this river was the White Waves River. It was connected to Yilong Lake and was one of its tributaries. The water of this river surged between the mountains for more than two hundred kilometers before it entered Yilong Lake. Hu Province[1] was named this way because of Yilong Lake as it was one of the largest lakes in the Great Han Empire...

There were rocks by the riverbank. Yan Liqiang picked one that was about the size of a dog’s head and then ruthlessly smashed the three corpses’ faces on it. After disfiguring all their faces to an unrecognizable extent, he proceeded to throw them into the White Waves River one by one.

The three corpses bobbed up and down in the rapid stream a few times before they completely vanished. The fate that awaited them from now on was either to become food for the fish and prawn in the river or be discovered. Even if they were discovered, it would probably be many days later. Based on the efficiency of information dissemination in this era, it was practically impossible to verify the identity of these three people. Attempting to solve this murder case would be nothing more than just a joke...

When he was done with all that, Yan Liqiang tossed the hook into the river too. He then moved to the shallow parts of the river and washed the blood off his hands and face. Next, he messed up his hair so that it covered his face. Then he gathered some dirt from the riverbank and smeared it all over his face and clothes. He ripped open some parts of his clothes too so that he would appear to be dressed in tatters. In just a flash, Yan Liqiang had turned himself into a remarkably convincing beggar.

Soon after that, he broke a wooden branch of about a meter long in the forest and held it in his hands as though it were a stick used to defend himself from dogs. He then exited the forest, returned to the main road, and he unhurriedly made his way back to Hu Provincial City.

...

A short moment after Yan Liqiang left the forest, the natural light in the forest dimmed and a figure silently emerged at the place where he had killed Wu Tao and the other two earlier as if he had just materialized from thin air.

This person was the old man in blue who had paid for Yan Liqiang’s meal at the restaurant today when he dined and dashed.

The elderly man in blue observed the surroundings and broke into a strange smile. “How decisive and merciless. You really killed three people without even blinking. When I saw you steal a meat hook at the marketplace earlier, I didn’t expect you to use it like this. Are all the youths this fierce nowadays? How interesting...” He murmured to himself.

At the change of natural light in the forest, the elderly man in blue disappeared without a trace in a flash, as if he had never appeared in the first place.

...

Yan Liqiang didn’t head directly to Hu Provincial City again upon leaving the forest. After traveling about five or six kilometers, he spotted a small town not too far away and immediately made his way there. He spent a few copper coins at a steamed bun shop for a couple of steamed buns. After he ate the buns, he didn’t pay for a room either. Instead, he found shelter that could shield him from the wind right behind a storehouse of an inn which stored firewood. He spent a night huddled in a corner like a beggar...

...

Yan Liqiang had made a right decision. It hadn’t been an hour since he arrived in the small town and three rhinodrake steeds had barged into the town. The burly men who were riding the steeds carried swords and inquired every person they came across if they’d seen a handsome youth and three men passing by here. Upon getting a negative answer, the three of them left the town and returned to the road outside.

Five other fierce-looking burly men were waiting on their rhinodrake steeds there.

“Big Brother, Wu Tao and the rest didn’t stop by this town...”

“Then they must’ve gone ahead. Let’s go!” One of the men who sported a scar on his forehead snorted coldly. He raised his horsewhip and led the group forward.

“KILL!!!!!!” Yan Liqiang howled in rage and charged towards Ye Tiancheng, the Prefectural Governor of Pingxi Prefecture and Mo Leng, whose finger had been bitten off by him, as well as a group of Pingxi City law enforcers...

Countless arrows pierced Yan Liqiang’s body. Instead of feeling any pain, he only felt the fury burning within him...

Yan Liqiang held a kukri knife in one hand and shortsword in the other, vanquishing everyone who stood in his way. Each and every single law enforcer and guard fell before him.

However, the silhouettes swarming around him were endless. The moment he killed one, another two instantly emerged.

Yan Liqiang snarled, his eyes bloodshot. There was only one thing on his mind– to rescue his father!

Yan Liqiang didn’t know how long he been charging in to kill. Just when he was about to reach Mo Leng, the Pingxi Prefectural Governor Ye Tiancheng’s thunderous laughter was heard. His figure instantly leaped off from the ground and transformed into a three-headed, six-armed monster. “You are nothing but a powerless peasant; the son of a blacksmith. How dare you fight against me. I am the Prefectural Governor of Pingxi Prefecture, an important figure of the Ye Clan from Gan Province. The entire Gan Province shall be the possession of our Ye Clan in the future. Killing you and your father will be as easy as crushing an ant if I wish to do so. Your actions today have brought about your own destruction. I shall start with your father first. Mo Leng!”

At Ye Tiancheng’s yell, Mo Leng gave Yan Liqiang a sinister smile before he slashed Yan Dechang with his sword.

When Yan Dechang collapsed, he yelled at Yan Liqiang, “RUN...!”

Everything was instantly stained crimson...

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

...

Yan Liqiang screamed and instantly snapped open his eyes. When he woke up, he realized that he was already completely drenched in sweat, panting heavily and curled up beneath the eaves of the firewood room. The sky had just barely turned brighter and the air was still chilly...

It turned out to be just a dream!

However... Yan Liqiang touched his face, tears were already streaming down his face. The pain he felt in his heart was still so real and suffocating.

The pain of Yan Dechang’s death would haunt Yan Liqiang forever. No matter how much time had passed, Yan Liqiang couldn’t help but to sink deeply into the self-blame and regret every time he remembered about all that had transpired on that fateful day...

If only his sense of righteousness wasn’t so strong for him to pick a fight with those Shatu people... If only he didn’t take those shortcuts that day... If only he wasn’t that nosy that day... If only he didn’t venture into that tunnel upon discovering it...

Would the final outcome be different? Would Yan Dechang still be alive now?

There were simply too many ‘if’s in Yan Liqiang’s mind. However, all those ‘if’s had no place in reality.

This was the most heart-wrenching fact.

If he could choose again, Yan Liqiang was willing to do anything as long as Yan Dechang would still be alive.

Unfortunately, this was nothing but Yan Liqiang’s wild wish.

“What are you yelling for, you damn beggar?! I was startled by you! I’ll beat you up if you wake the guests! Now, hurry up and scram!”

The staff of the inn woke up early and had started working. He was about to start a fire to prepare hot water in the kitchen for guests who woke up early. When that staff came to the firewood room to gather firewood and heard Yan Liqiang screaming in his dream outside, he couldn’t help but come out from the rear exit to yell at him and even threaten to beat Yan Liqiang up.

Yan Liqiang wiped his tear-stained face. He stood up wordlessly then made his way towards the main street.

He had to become more powerful, only then there was hope to fell his enemies under his blade...

Yan Liqiang clenched his fists tightly...

The entire town had already woken up and people were getting ready for a day of work to earn a living. Yan Liqiang followed the path he took yesterday and left the small town. When he arrived at the main road outside, he used his tree branch as a walking cane and slowly walked towards Hu Provincial City.

The road between the small town and Hu Provincial City was only six to seven thousand meters at most; not too far. Yan Liqiang kept walking for about two hours before he found himself outside of Hu Provincial City once again by the time the sun had completely risen.

The city gates of Hu Provincial City were wide open, with endless traffic flowing through it. Vegetable sellers and traders were lining up at the city entrance, ready to enter the city.

Unexpectedly, Yan Liqiang noticed a few others dressed similarly like himself– their clothes were in tatters. The beggars with dusty faces were also queueing up to get into the city, It seemed like they were going in to beg for food. They’d probably get more food in the city than outside.

Apart from a group of soldiers at the city entrance, two other men in their thirties were scanning each and everyone who entered the city with their bloodshot eyes.

The clothes they wore were completely the same as the other two men who were in Wu Tao’s company last night. Not only their attire but even their auras were similar. These two men who stood guard at the city entrance exuded a similarly brave and ruthless aura as those thugs at the marketplace.

It took Yan Liqiang only a glance to figure out that both of them who stood guard at the city entrance were either waiting for himself or another three people. He was guessing that these people from the Rising Moon Tower were probably panicking because Wu Tao and the other two never returned since last night.

When Yan Liqiang followed the rest into the city and came face to face with them, both of them only took a single glance at Yan Liqiang before treating him like air and continued their conversation in a soft voice.

“You think Wu Tao will be alright with Laoshu and Zeimao? I heard Master Zhu had personally led others to search for them over hundred li but there were still no sights of them...:”

“Who knows? Putting aside Wu Tao, Laoshu and Zeimao are both good fighters. They have never blinked when they stabbed someone and never failed in carrying out those kinds of tasks. With both of them around, it’s unlikely three adult men can be outmatched by a fourteen or fifteen-year-old youth...”

“To hell with this! I’ve already stood here for more than a few hours. My feet are going numb...”

“I heard the youth from last evening was someone Young Master Fu had seen by coincidence at the marketplace yesterday. He was at a restaurant that time when he instantly spotted the youth downstairs, so he sent Wu Tao over to approach him. This was the first time he failed to get the person Young Master Fu requested for. I heard he flew into a terrible rage later that evening...”

“Young Master Fu is the most important patron of our Rising Moon Tower. How can anyone afford to offend him?!”

...

While eavesdropping on the conversation of those thugs behind him, Yan Liqiang stopped in front of the city entrance fee collection box and produced three copper coins from his sleeve. He deposited the coins into the box and then entered Hu Provincial City unhindered.

The city before him was quite a risky place. However, compared to the risks he might face, he was much more unwilling to pass up the opportunity to join the Soul Mountain Sect.

If he didn’t join these major sects and get the backing of these influential parties, how would it be possible for an ordinary person without anything like him, to learn advanced martial skills and secret techniques? Without advanced martial skills and secret techniques, his so-called ‘revenge’ would remain nothing but a dream forever...

For the sake of this chance, Yan Liqiang was willing to take the risk.

...

The moment he passed through the city gates of Hu Provincial City, Yan Liqiang was greeted by a very crowded and lively street. Both sides of the street were filled with richly ornamented grand buildings at least seven stories high. On the streets, pedestrians and horse carriages used separate lanes. The wide traffic lanes were enough to fit ten horse carriages side by side. The merchandises sold in the shops by the roadside were a dazzling array of beautiful exhibits which contained everything anyone possibly needed. Quite a number of merchants hired performers to put on various kind of sideshows at their shop entrances for the sake of attracting customers.

The prosperity of Hu Provincial City exceeded Pingxi City by nearly tenfolds.

Yan Liqiang wandered around Hu Provincial City without attracting any attention. His appearance convinced everyone that he was nothing more than a beggar so no one spared an extra glance at him.

...

After an hour, Yan Liqiang found himself in a relatively quiet street in Hu Provincial City and spotted a boutique which sold various ready-made clothes, shoes, and hats for men.

There were no other customers in the shop except for a fat shopkeeper who stood by the counter beside the shop entrance. He was anxiously watching the pedestrians on the street.

Yan Liqiang took a single glance at the goods in the shop before he walked in.

“Get out, get out, get out...” The moment the fat shopkeeper saw Yan Liqiang came in, his face twisted in disgust. He instantly came out from behind the counter and chased Yan Liqiang outside in annoyance. “It’s still early in the morning. Not even a customer has come in and you are already here to beg for food. You’re bringing bad luck!”

“Who said I am here to beg for food?” Yan Liqiang shot the shopkeeper a glare before he took out a few taels of silver and slammed them loudly against the countertop. “I am here to shop for clothes.”

Upon seeing the few taels of silver, the shopkeeper’s face instantly changed. A smile immediately appeared across his face and his anger had completely dissipated. “Well then! Welcome, welcome! Everyone is a customer, everyone is a customer...”

A variety of ready-made clothes were available in the store, ranging from those made with low-grade coarse materials to high-grade silk gowns. High, medium, low quality– they had them all.

It took Yan Liqiang only a short while to pick a set of outfit for himself from head to toe.

“How much for everything?”

The shopkeeper calculated with his abacus noisily. “These clothes, shoes, socks, and headwear are finest in our humble little shop. If you are buying them all, I will give you a discount and waive the little remainder of 17 copper coins. Therefore, that will make a grand total of three taels, nine maces and six candareens of silver for everything.”

Three taels, nine maces and six candareens of silver. Although it didn’t sound that much, it wasn’t cheap but very pricey instead. In this era, five or six taels of silver were quite enough for an average family of four to live for a year. The cost of this outfit Yan Liqiang had picked was enough for an average family to live for half a year.

“Can I change in this shop?”

“Of course you can. There are two changing rooms right behind there...” The shopkeeper replied promptly.

“Good, I shall pay you four taels of silver, you may keep the change. I need only two buckets of water to be sent to the changing room as I will take a bath and freshen up here.”

“W-Well... I’m afraid our humble little shop cannot provide that much hot water under such a short notice...”

“Cold water will do...”

This much water was hardly worth any money as it could easily be obtained from the well in the backyard. When the shopkeeper thought about how he was able to earn a few candareens of silver just by delivering two buckets of water without going through much trouble, a smile instantly broke into his face as he immediately nodded to the request.

...

In just less than half an hour, Yan Liqiang, who had just taken a bath and changed into his new outfit, almost couldn’t recognize himself when he saw his reflection in the mirror.

Yan Liqiang looked like a whole new person in the mirror. He wore a purple hat, fastened to his head with an amber feather copper hairpin and a blue long gown made of silk with matching trousers. Beneath the gown was a complete set of a vest, shirt, and undershirt. The waist of the gown was tied up by a silver belt decorated with red turquoise stones. His feet were covered with a pair of thick deerskin boots.

With this transformation, the reflection of an exceptionally graceful and handsome youth appeared before Yan Liqiang’s eyes. Putting aside everything else, even if the late Wu Tao was brought before Yan Liqiang, he probably wouldn’t be able to recognize that this was the very youth he saw yesterday in the marketplace.

It seemed like the saying that goes, ‘a person depends on their apparel, a buddha depends on gold’ [1] was true after all.

Yan Liqiang was very satisfied too when he saw his reflection in the mirror.

When Yan Liqiang emerged from the room again, the way that the fat shopkeeper stared at him was as though he had just witnessed a magic performance He was completely stupefied and hardly able to believe that the beggar from earlier and this young lord was actually the same person. He took a look at Yan Liqiang then went to open the changing room’s door and was rendered speechless.

“Shopkeeper, you may burn or throw away those old clothes. I shall take my leave now!”

Yan Liqiang cupped his hands in salute towards the shopkeeper then exited the store.

“How odd. Did this young lord perform a trick...?” That shopkeeper mumbled to himself as he watched Yan Liqiang leave.

...

When he returned to the main street outside, Yan Liqiang found someone and asked for clear directions to Soul Mountain Sect’s Hu Provincial Branch. Once he did, he immediately hurried towards his destination.

...

After an hour, Yan Liqiang arrived at the outside of Soul Mountain Sect’s Hu Provincial Branch.

As expected of Soul Mountain Sect, which was one of the four major sects in this world. Just its Hu Provincial Branch alone occupied an area of at least four hundred mu on the extremely prestigious land of Hu Provincial City. From a distance, Soul Mountain Sect’s Hu Provincial Branch looked like a palace. Beyond its high walls and red roof tiles were lush trees so tall that they seemed to touch the heavens. Tall, lofty and grand buildings and pavilions were hidden among the green shadows of those trees.

The entrance to Soul Mountain Sect’s Hu Provincial Branch was like a mini version of Hu Provincial City’s city gate, it faced a wide public square. At this very moment, more than a thousand youths had gathered outside the entrance. They formed a long queue which further split into multiple rows, waiting to apply for the recruitment.

Yan Liqiang had only witnessed a similar situation like this, during the registration days for the civil service examination in his previous life.

There was a registration area on the other side of the queue, with a few hundred people lining up there. The registration process was the first round of the selection process. The qualified candidates would receive a token from the registration area and proceed to the next round of the selection process. The unqualified candidates were all filtered out during the registration.

Yan Liqiang came to the registration area, he queued up at the back of the line and was ready to sign up.

The moment Yan Liqiang arrived, he had attracted a lot of attention among the crowd gathered at the registration area. Quite a few of them were silently checking Yan Liqiang out. The eyes of a few young ladies among the registering crowd, in particular, lit up at the sight of Yan Liqiang.

“Greetings, Brother. Let us introduce ourselves to each other. I am Lu Wengang. I am here today to sign myself up for the disciple recruitment of Soul Mountain Sect’s Hu Provincial Branch. How do I address you, Brother?”

The person who queued up in front of Yan Liqiang was also a youth of about fifteen or sixteen years old. He seemed like a simple and honest youth, yet he was quick

“Greetings, I am Yan Liqiang!” Yan Liqiang gave him a smile.

“Brother, you’re not from Hu Province, are you?”

“I’m not...”

“Oh, I’m not from Hu Province either. I’m from Xiaoshan Prefecture of Guan Province. I especially rushed here because I heard Soul Mountain Sect’s Hu Provincial Branch will start recruiting the selected disciples this year...”

“Is it usually very rare for Soul Mountain Sect’s Hu Provincial Branch to accept disciples?”

“Of course. The last time they did was three years ago. An opportunity like this is very hard to come by. Brother, have you passed your Horse Stance stage yet...?”

“Yes, I already passed...”

“That’s good then. Did you see the few who left just now? They couldn’t even get through the registration because they haven’t passed the Horse Stance stage. It takes special talent for one to join Soul Mountain Sect’s Hu Provincial Branch. Otherwise, the bare minimum prerequisite for registering is passing the Horse Stance stage!” Lu Wengang turned his head to speak with Yan Liqiang, then blinked. “Actually, I’ve only passed that stage two months ago. However, my motive in joining Soul Mountain Sect isn’t to learn martial techniques from them...”

“What is your motive in joining Soul Mountain Sect if it isn’t for the sake of learning martial arts from them then, Brother Lu?” Yan Liqiang asked curiously.

Lu Wengang lifted his face and spoke with admiration in his voice. “The current commanding officer in Soul Mountain Sect’s Thousand Engineering Hall, Zhang Yourong, is the best engineer in the world. At the mere age of thirty, he had already managed to invent a flying wooden bird which can fly up to a few hours in the sky without landing. That was simply a marvelous achievement. If I can join the Soul Mountain Sect, perhaps I may be able to join the Thousand Engineering Hall someday and learn from the best engineer in the world. That will be so much more interesting than cultivating martial arts...”

If emperors who loved carpentry and locksmithing existed, then a youth who joined Soul Mountain Sect just because he was passionate about engineering wasn’t strange at all. Yan Liqiang gave him an understanding smile. “I wish Brother Lu all the best. Hopefully, you can get into the Thousand Engineering Hall of Soul Mountain Sect in the near future...”

“Thanks. My dream is to be able to invent a wooden ox someday. If wooden oxen which don’t require food can work for people in the fields and transport goods, it will be able to lessen the workload of people and allow the poor to become wealthy, thus having enough to feed themselves. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?”

“It does sound quite wonderful. It’s a great idea!” Yan Liqiang smiled. He didn’t tell Lu Wengang that those wooden oxen of his dreams weren’t too difficult to create. All he needed was only a steam engine. However, all machinery could only improve work efficiency and productivity. It was impossible for them to change the nature of socio-economic relations and social class conflicts. Even with the invention of the wooden ox, the poor would remain poor while the rich would remain rich.

Upon hearing Yan Liqiang’s praises to his idea, Lu Wengang seemed as though he had met someone who clicked with him. He was suddenly in high spirits and started babbling about engineering which he was obsessed with...

...

They had been queueing for more than half an hour. Some of the people in front who passed the registration and moved to the other queue after receiving a token, some who didn’t manage to pass sighed and left dejectedly.

When it was Lu Wengang’s turn, he gave personal details like his clan, hometown, and address then revealed some of his knowledge in engineering. The person who handled the registration examined his fist strength then nodded. He had Lu Wengeng leave his handprint and told him to queue up at the other side after passing him a token.

“Brother Yan, I shall wait for you on the other side!” Lu Wengang waved the token in his hand cheerfully before he ran to the other side to line up.

...

After Lu Wengang, it was Yan Liqiang’s turn next.

“Name?”

“Yan Liqiang...”

“Age?”

“Fourteen...”

“Hometown, address, your parents’ name and job?”

Yan Liqiang hesitated for a moment...

Upon observing Yan Liqiang’s hesitation, the man at the registration area of Soul Mountain Sect stared at Yan Liqiang. “Let me remind you, the moment you become a disciple of Soul Mountain Sect, the sect will send people to the address you provided today for verification purposes. Any false information provided is enough to expel you from Soul Mountain Sect and be severely punished as a spy. You will be beheaded immediately without exception...”

Yan Liqiang went silent for a moment before speaking up. “I’ve regarded everywhere as my home and have been roaming around without settling down since young. I have never seen my real parents either...”

“Who raised you then?”

“An old beggar. He passed away a few years ago!”

The people from Soul Mountain Sect at the registration area exchanged whispers with each other in discussion then shook their head at Yan Liqiang with an indifferent expression on their faces. “Soul Mountain Sect never accepts disciples of unknown origins. Therefore, you may leave. Next!”

Yan Liqiang left the registration dejectedly, he did not expect to fail to secure even the right to be enlisted in Soul Mountain Sect. His dream of becoming stronger was shattered by the harsh truth of reality in the blink of an eye.

Before his attempt, Yan Liqiang did not expect Soul Mountain Sect to have such tight regulations when it came to the background of their candidates.

Yan Liqiang grimaced. The Soul Mountain Sect was not the one at fault here, he was the one who took things for granted and overlooked such an important fact.

There were multiple major sects just like Soul Mountain Sect, and it was the norm for them to do a strict background check before recruiting a disciple. Only in retarded dramas that he used to watch in his last life would a situation where a disciple could easily enter a major sect exist.

Despite his change in appearance, it was impossible to fabricate a viable background for himself out of thin air. His deception would easily be exposed once Soul Mountain Sect sent someone to find out the truth and he would definitely not be able to stay in Soul Mountain Sect. He might not even be able to leave the place alive.

Yan Liqiang was presumed dead in the eyes of many. Was he really expected to tell Soul Mountain Sect that he was reborn? And that his hometown was Liuhe Town, situated in Qinghe County that was part of Pingxi Prefecture in Gan Province?

“Brother Yan, how did it go? Did you get the badge?” Lu Wengang ran up to Yan Liqiang with concern written all over his face.

Yan Liqiang shook his head, a smile still remaining on his face. “Liqiang wishes Brother Lu good luck in joining Soul Mountain Sect. May you realize the dreams you have. Go queue up Brother Lu, we’ll meet again.”

As Lu Wengang stared agape at Yan Liqiang, the latter cupped his hands in salute and left the Hu Provincial Branch of Soul Mountain Sect alone.

At that moment, the flourishing Hu Provincial City no longer intrigued Yan Liqiang.

There has to be a way... There must be one...! If he was unable to join the Soul Mountain Sect, there were other sects out there as well...

That was what Yan Liqiang told himself. He could still remember the words of the cart driver the day before. There was another sect within Hu Province: the Longhu Sect, which was situated on the Mount Longhu. He could try his luck with them...

...

Mount Longhu was ten thousand square kilometers wide and was situated eight hundred kilometers away from Hu Provincial City. It extended continuously across the horizon and was one of the largest mountains in Hu Province. It was the only sect in the entire province that could stand toe to toe with the Soul Mountain Sect’s Hu Provincial Branch. If the Soul Mountain Sect was said to be the dragon of Hu Province, then the Longhu Sect was the tiger of Hu Province.

Five days later, Yan Liqiang arrived at the main gate of Longhu Sect.

...

“Longhu Sect will be recruiting disciples during the third lunar month of every year, but disciple candidates are required to have a clear background. Those who are unable to prove their identity will be rejected. Such has been the practice of Longhu Sect for hundreds of years, it’s the same for all the other sects. Young man, I think you should just leave...” The words of a receptionist at the main entrance of Longhu Sect was like a bucket of cold water splashed onto Yan Liqiang, snuffing out his spirit.

Such a rule was the same for Soul Mountain Sect, Longhu Sect, as well as all the other prominent sects. The inability to provide a clear origin was a barrier which blocked Yan Liqiang out of all the sects.

With bitterness in his heart, Yan Liqiang left the entrance of Longhu Sect with heavy steps as he headed down the mountain.

Is there really no other way? Yan Liqiang shouted in his heart.

In this world, all the martial arts and secret techniques were mastered by the major sects as well as noble families. The secret techniques of the nobles were never meant to be learned by outsiders. With his entrance into the martial arts sects denied, where else could he learn martial arts from?

Despite his unwillingness to resign to his fate, the martial arts sects at that time had very strict rules, and the rules of this world were not something Yan Liqiang could challenge or change.

...

The scenery on Mount Longhu was utterly stunning, with trees and rocks doting the face of the mountain. Yan Liqiang was in a daze as he walked down the mountain. In his eyes, the beautiful scenery was as uninteresting as a piece of plain paper.

As he was on his way, a sound caught Yan Liqiang’s attention.

“Aiyo... Aiyo...”

It seemed to be a person moaning in pain, and the person was not far away from him. Blinking quickly, Yan Liqiang made his way in the direction of that person. Right after turning a corner, Yan Liqiang spotted an old man with white hair, dressed in rags carrying a basket on his back. The old man sat at the side of the road, moaning in pain.

Judging from his clothing, the old man was from a poor family and was there to gather herbs.

There was a cliff on the left side of the road, dotted with rocks of various shapes and sizes. Watermelon-sized rocks were scattered all around the mountain road. The part of the old man’s leg, below his left knee, was twisted at an odd angle. His leg must have been broken.

The old man’s face was deathly white and sweat dripped down his forehead profusely. He seemed entirely incapable of standing up.

“Ah! Sir, what happened to you...?”

“I came to Mount Longhu today to gather herbs. A damned rock fell all of a sudden when I just got here and just happened to hit me on my leg. My leg is broken, and I can’t stand anymore..” replied the old man as he took in the cold air. His entire body was trembling.

Mount Longhu was a scenic place. Other than the Longhu Sect that was at the top of the mountain, the beautiful scenery would also often attract visitors. There were herbs and various exotic plants growing on the mountain as well. As Yan Liqiang made his way to the Longhu Sect, he even saw tourists and people who were there to gather herbs. They were not headed in the same direction as him, and went their separate ways, taking different routes. This old man did not appear to be lying at all.

Yan Liqiang knelt and inspected the old man’s injury. His leg was swollen and from the shape of his bones, the injury was very real.

“Sir, are you alone? Do you have any companions nearby? If you have somebody accompanying you, I’ll go get them for you right away...”

“I’m here alone, there’s nobody else with me...” the old man shook his head.

“Where is your house, sir?”

“I live in a small town not far away from Mount Longhu. We’ll only need to travel a few miles after descending the mountain. Can you do me a favor, young man? Please carry me down the mountain...”

Despite the roads, it was very hard to traverse the rugged terrain of Mount Longhu. It would be even harder to carry an injured old man down the mountain through a distance that was at least twenty miles long.

“Alright. Please be careful sir, I’ll carry you down the mountain...” Without even giving the matter much of thought, Yan Liqiang offered to carry the old man down the mountain.

Yan Liqiang knelt in front of the old man and directed the old man to tightly hold onto his shoulders. With the old man’s upper body leaning against him, he carefully grabbed the old man’s thigh and slowly stood up...

“Sir, are you alright? If you feel pain, just let me know...”

“Young man, you’re such a kind soul. Sorry for troubling you...” The old man was touched.

“It’s alright, it’s alright. Let me bring you down the mountain...”

“Okay. The road is slippery and steep. Be careful, young man...”

“Don’t you worry Sir...”

For Yan Liqiang, carrying an old man whose weight was not even seventy kilograms was a simple task. He did not even feel fatigue as he walked carefully down the mountain.

“Young man, where are you from...”

As they traveled down the mountain, the old man struck up a conversation with Yan Liqiang.

“I don’t have a home. The four corners of the world is my home...” Yan Liqiang smiled sadly.

“You’ve been drifting about at such a young age. What about your parents...”

“They’ve passed away...”

“Ay, young man... You’re such a fine looking gentleman. I did not know that you were facing such hardship.” The old man let out a sigh.

“Hehe... There are a lot more out there who are more unfortunate than I am. At least I still have my limbs with me. I can stand on my own feet. Sometimes when I think about it, I realized that I shouldn’t wish for too much!”

“Young man, you’re quite optimistic. You’re even more mature than me!”

“It’s nothing. I’m simply trying to enjoy life. I can’t drown myself in misery all day long can I? It’d annoy the people around me and cause suffering for myself anyways. We as humans must not dwell in the sorrows of our past. We should look forward and strive for a better tomorrow...”

“Yes! We must always strive for a better tomorrow when we’re alive in this world!” the old man laughed, “Just look at me. I’m still a poor man with no family despite my age, but I will still gather herbs in the mountains every single day. It does not earn much, but those herbs can save lives. This is how I’ve managed to press on everyday!”

“Sir, is there nobody else living with you?”

“Nope. I live alone. Fate is what brings people together. You can’t insist to get something that was destined to not be yours. It’s futile...” The old man let out a sigh.

“Yes, it’s all up to fate!”

It was a rare chance to come across a person that he could get along with, and Yan Liqiang was able to open up to the old man even though they did not share a close relationship. He finally was able to vent his frustrations ever since the day he had reincarnated into this world.

“Oh yes, I remember that the road you came from led to the Longhu Sect, you must be one of their disciples...”

“It was my intention to join the Longhu Sect, but I was rejected as my background was unknown...” Yan Liqiang let out a sigh..

“That’s right. All the major sects will investigate the background of their disciples. They are usually wary of drifters like you with no clear background, as you might be a spy assigned to infiltrate their center. Sects like these would have enemies and people who are jealous of their wealth. To safeguard their secrets, each sect would usually have very high standards for their disciples, and would normally only accept disciples with good family backgrounds...”

Yan Liqiang remained silent. The old man’s words reflected the despair he felt. The rules set by the major sects meant that he would never be able to join any of them in his quest to learn some advanced martial arts. His journey of vendetta was hopeless.

At that moment, a thought surfaced in Yan Liqiang’s mind – in the worst case scenario, he could just go back to Pingxi Prefecture of Gan Province and try his best to get close to that corrupted official surnamed Ye. When the time was right, he would do what had to be done.

“Young man, don’t give up just yet! Heaven never bars one’s way. Even if you ran into a wall here, it does not mean that it’s the end for you!”

Taking the old man’s words as a form of consolation, Yan Liqiang smiled, “Thank you sir. I will never give up! Not until the end!”

As the two conversed, Yan Liqiang had already covered a distance of almost seven miles and was already halfway down the mountain.

“Ah!” The old man let out a sudden cry.

“What is it, sir?”

“Young man, I’ve forgotten something. My keys, I think I left them at the place where you ran into me earlier. Without the keys I won’t be able to go home...” The old man said in an embarrassed tone, “Young man... Can you... Can you head back and help me look for the keys...”

“Sir... About that... Why don’t we just break the lock? I’ll get you a new one...”

The old man let out a sigh, and with a tone full of sorrow he said, “My late wife bought the key. She said that if there’s a lock and a door, then there’s a home. The lock came with a pair of keys, and I have been using it for years now. It’s very meaningful to me, and I don’t wish to damage it...”

For any other person, it would already be a charity for them to be bringing the old man down the mountain. Nine out of ten of them would definitely be disinclined to help the old man retrieve his keys. But after listening to the old man’s words, Yan Liqiang merely nodded, “Alright sir. I’ll leave you here while I head back and look for the keys.”

With that, Yan Liqiang set the old man down on a rock by a tree at the side of the road. After asking the old man about the shape and any other characteristics of the keys, he backtracked his way up the mountain road.

Before Yan Liqiang was even fifty meters away from the old man, the old man cried, “Snake! Snake!”

Yan Liqiang turned around and spotted a snake with a triangular-shaped head, and white stripes dotted its black body that was two meters long. The snake slithered out from a bush not too far away from the tree, extending its tongue as it approached the old man.

Alarmed, the immobile old man threw dirt and tiny pieces of stone at the snake, hoping to drive it away.

Yan Liqiang was shocked as well. Without hesitating, he snapped a branch from a nearby tree and dashed toward the old man.

Maybe it was because of the stones that were thrown by the old man, or Yan Liqiang’s movement, but the snake was scared away and it disappeared back into a bush at the side of the road.

As he parted the bush with the branch in his hand, Yan Liqiang could no longer spot the snake. The snake had already disappeared into the gulley and mountain streams hidden behind the bush.

When Yan Liqiang turned around, he could see that the old man’s face was completely pale, and fear lingered on his face.

“Sir, what was that snake just now?”

“That was a black-scaled snake. Even a single bite can be fatal!”

“Are there a lot of snakes on Mount Longhu?”

“Of course! The ‘Long’ of Mount Longhu refers to the snake population on this mountain. There were a lot of vile beasts and poisonous creatures in this mountain, but their populations were drastically reduced when the Longhu Sect was formed. Many of them were either driven away or slain by the people from the Longhu Sect. However, a large population of venomous snakes remained on this mountain. I would not be afraid of such snakes if my legs were in good condition. But with how I am now...”

After listening to the old man’s words, Yan Liqiang studied the thick forest surrounding them and looked at the old man’s injured leg. He then knelt in front of the old man. “Sir, here, I’ll carry you up the mountain. I can take care of you if you’re with me. I can’t be at ease if I leave you alone here. What if the snake comes back after I’m gone? I’ll be committing a grave sin...”

“Sorry for troubling you...”

Yan Liqiang did not see the weird smile on the old man’s face as he knelt in front of him.

Yan Liqiang began to ascend the mountain once again after carrying the old man on his back.

Yan Liqiang would’ve been exhausted after carrying a person up and down the mountain had he not practiced Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing before. Despite that, his back was dripping with sweat, and his clothes were already soaked. Even his face was a shade of red.

After carrying the old man up the mountain for almost seven miles, Yan Liqiang had finally reached the spot where he had run into the old man. He found a key in a nearby bush where he had found the old man.

After returning the keys to the old man, Yan Liqiang proceeded to carry him down the mountain.

As they arrived at the foot of the mountain, a man with a scar on his forehead appeared and blocked their path.

The man waved his hand, and a group of eight other men appeared from the side of the roof. They surrounded Yan Liqiang and stared at him with cold gazes.

The clothes the men wore were similar to the ones that Wu Tao’s thugs were wearing that were killed by Yan Liqiang.

Yan Liqiang’s heart raced as the men appeared, but he was able to keep up a calm appearance while carrying the old man on his back. “Are you guys trying to rob me? This is the Longhu Sect’s territory. Aren’t you a little too shameless?”

“You can stop with the act, asshole!” the man with the scar sneered coldly, “You did quite a number on our guys...”

Yan Liqiang looked around and calmly said, “I have neither met nor offended any of you. Did you mistake me for someone else?”

“Hahaha, how can my eyes possibly make a mistake!?” Following those loud laughs, three more people came out from behind the thickets and stood behind the thugs dressed in black.

Standing in the middle between those three people who had just come out was a young lord who was gaudily dressed in silk. He had sunken cheeks and bulging eyes which made him look like he suffered from hyperthyroidism at first glance. However, upon looking more closely, his bulging eyes were boring holes into Yan Liqiang as though he were a hungry ghost. His gaze shined with disgusting obscenity.

“I saw you the moment you emerged at the marketplace that day. I never expected such a beautiful man like you to still exist in this world, hehehe...” The gaudily dressed young lord smiled wretchedly at Yan Liqiang. “When Wu Tao and the rest chased you that day, none of them returned. I thought I would never see you again. Little did I expect to run into you again the next day during registration at Soul Mountain Sect’s Hu Provincial Branch. I almost couldn’t recognize you when I was queuing up because you changed your clothes. Fortunately, even if clothes can be changed, you can’t change yourself. I have a few men with me who went to search for you over these few days, and we finally found you here...”

Yan Liqiang squinted his eyes at this disgusting man as he recalled the situation that day during registration at Soul Mountain Sect’s Hu Provincial Branch. He vaguely recalled that he had seen his face. However, there were just too many other people staring at him from all directions at that time. This person was in the queue with the crowd and he didn’t expect for him to be the person behind the series of troubles which befell him upon his arrival at Hu Provincial City.

“Who are you?” Yan Liqiang asked coldly.

“Hahaha. I’m from Fu Zixiang from the Fu Clan. There’s no one in Hu Provincial City who doesn’t know my name!” The gaudy man looked at Yan Liqiang in arrogance with complacency written all over his face. “The largest Thousand Treasures Merchant Group in Hu Province is the Fu Clan’s. My grandfather is one of the Hall Masters in the Soul Mountain Sect. My father is a high official at the Hu Provincial Governor’s Office. The Fu Clan is pretty much an influential and great clan in Hu Province. Now that I have joined the Soul Mountain Sect, getting to the main branch in the future will be as easy as turning over my hand. If you follow me, you definitely won’t regret it...”

Someone like this was nothing more than a pile of turd. To hear this pile of turd boasting so shamelessly, Yan Liqiang was so annoyed that he nearly puked. “Your clan’s background has nothing to do with me and I don’t care which sect you are in either. I’m leaving now, so get out of the way!”

“Brat, you think you can still leave now?” The man with a scar between his brows leaped out and fiercely glared at Yan Liqiang. “I haven’t broken even with you for Wu Tao and the rest. Tell me, what have you done to them? Why did they never return after they went to chase you that night? We haven’t seen any of them alive or their corpses. Did you kill them and bury their corpses somewhere?”

“I don’t know Wu Tao or that Liu Tao you speak of.” Yan Liqiang replied with an indifferent expression on his face.

The man with a scar in the middle of his brows laughed sinisterly. He cracked his knuckles and the cracking noises from the bones were audible. “It seems like you won’t tell us unless we do something. I would really love to see just how long your bones can stand this.”

“Zhu An, don’t injure him too badly and don’t leave any scars on his face...” Young Master Fu worriedly reminded him from the side.

“Rest assured, Young Master Fu. We, the Rising Moon Tower of Hu Provincial City has never met anyone that has not been our match. Let me show you how I will handle this brat...”

“Why are you guys doing something so completely uncalled for in broad daylight? Do you not fear the law?”

“The law?” The people who surrounded Yan Liqiang were slightly taken aback before they roared in laughter together as if they had just heard a funny joke. The person named Zhu An laughed so hard that he teared up. “The laws are only effective against peasants like yourself. If you are disobedient, we will hold you against the law. So what about laws? They are nothing but our words. You really took them seriously?”

Yan Liqiang laughed deprecatingly at himself. He had done everything perfectly and he thought that by doing so, no one would be able to get ahold of any evidence that could be used against him. Yet he had forgotten the fact that logic and reasoning never worked in this world; it had always been violence. Now that the other party had already identified him, evidence and the law didn’t matter to them. The only thing they wanted was nothing more than to bring him down and humiliate him.

Yan Liqiang was a good law-abiding citizen in his previous life. Under imperceptible influence, his subconsciousness in this life had made him consider every action he took in accordance to the law, like when he murdered the Hong Clan in the past as well as Wu Tao and the rest. Although he knew he was committing a crime, he still didn’t want his actions, which violated the law, to be exposed. However, Yan Liqiang was finally woken up now. In this world, laws were merely words for the disadvantaged social groups. Great clans like the Ye Clan of Gan Province and the Fu Clan of Hu Province would never view the laws in the same way. The so-called law was nothing more than a tool in their hands.

From this moment onwards, the word ‘law’ was completely reduced to nothing in Yan Liqiang’s heart.

Upon seeing his opponent getting ready to begin, Yan Liqiang took a deep breath and then stared at Zhu An and Fu Zixiang. “This old man I am carrying on my back is someone I just met on the mountain. He injured his leg when he was picking herbs there. I only helped him descend the mountain. He has never known me prior to this and likewise, I didn’t know him either. I’m going to set him down now. Please don’t make things difficult for him. If you want to do anything, just come at me!”

Fu Zixiang cast a single glance at the old man whom Yan Liqiang was carrying and then spatted, “Who cares about that old geezer?”

The old man who had picked herbs seemed to be intimidated by these people from the Rising Moon Tower. Ever since they appeared, he had been completely silent.

Yan Liqiang took a look around at his surroundings and then walked to the roadside to set the old man on his back down. “Old Man, this is as far as I can send you today. Please take care of yourself!”

After setting the old man down, Yan Liqiang turned around and stared at the group of people who surrounded him. The expression on his face slowly hardened. With a whisk, he pulled out a sharp, short knife from his waist, squinted his eyes, and clenched his jaw. “Come,” he said coldly.

“A brat who isn’t even a Martial Warrior is going to fight with his life?” Zhu An looked at Yan Liqiang and laughed disdainfully. “I will let you know today that children shouldn’t be playing with knives!”

While Zhu An was speaking, his figure flashed. He seemed to have come before Yan Liqiang with just a stride and then he flung his palm towards him...

Zhu An drew near to him. The palm he flung towards Yan Liqiang was extremely powerful, quick, and violent. Yan Liqiang shifted his body to the side without thinking and similarly took a step forward. The dagger in his hand was aimed at Zhu An’s neck. He seemed as though he was courageously risking his life...

Nine out of ten ordinary people would choose to defend and evade if faced with Zhu An’s attack. On the contrary, Yan Liqiang neither defended nor evaded his attack. He instead chose to fight it out with Zhu An. If you are going to slap me, then I’ll stab you.

To date, Yan Liqiang never fought anyone beyond Martial Warrior realm. The moment Zhu An struck out, Yan Liqiang already understood that he was definitely no match for Zhu An. There was no doubt that Zhu An was not only a Martial Warrior, but also a very powerful one among them. His strength considerably exceeded his own. Under such circumstances, it was meaningless to choose the conventional way of fighting. The disparity between their strengths was simply too obvious. If he wished to escape, he could only fight for a chance by going all out.

Yan Liqiang’s attacks were extremely fierce and confident. Zhu An was secretly startled in his heart too. He realized that Yan Liqiang had nimble footwork and sharp reflexes. The aura and force behind the stab seemed to be rather experienced, somewhat akin to that of a Martial Warrior and unlike a youth that was fourteen or fifteen who hadn’t advanced as a Martial Warrior.

A slapping sound rang out. Zhu An had changed his technique at the last minute when Yan Liqiang’s dagger drew near him. He flung his palm out and performed an unarmed technique, directly slapping the blade of Yan Liqiang’s dagger. Then he kicked Yan Liqiang.

Yan Liqiang sensed only a wave of powerful force coming at him. The dagger in his hand shook and almost slipped from his grasp. His entire arm was numb and it was nearly knocked away. Upon seeing Zhu An’s kick coming towards him, Yan Liqiang immediately performed the ‘Nine Palace Steps’ along with the force on his arm. With that technique, he flipped over with a step and was able to instantly evade Zhu An’s kick, putting some distance between them. He then held his dagger downwards, adopting a defensive stance while he locked his eyes onto Zhu An.

“This brat is quite a troublesome one. His attacks are ruthless and cruel. Wu Tao and the other two probably fell into the clutches of this brat. Everyone be careful, don’t let him get away...!” Zhu An yelled. When the other thugs in the surroundings heard him, each and every one of them unsheathed their weapons, simultaneously surrounding them by forming a tight ring and trapping both of them in the middle.

This time, Yan Liqiang initiated the attack without waiting for Zhu An to come at him. He didn’t charge towards Zhu An. He instead turned around when he saw those thugs in the surroundings closing in on him, getting ready to pounce on one of the thugs closest to him from behind.

Zhu An snarled, then pounced on Yan Liqiang like a hawk preying on a rabbit.

However, he didn’t know Yan Liqiang was feinting.

When Zhu An leaped towards him and the thugs who surrounded him closed in on him at the same time, he lowered his body and immediately did a quick roll on the ground. He went behind Zhu An who had soared into the sky from below his feet. Then he leaped up and pounced on one of the thugs that was closing in on him.

Seeing Yan Liqiang pouncing towards him, the thug in front hacked towards Yan Liqiang with the long knife in his hands without a second thought.

Both parties’ weapons clashed against each other with a sharp and clear clank.

Although Yan Liqiang was holding a dagger in his hands, the strength he possessed far exceeded the thug’s. The moment their blades clashed against each other, Yan Liqiang made sure he blocked his opponent’s long knife with his dagger at a spot close to its hilt, instantly repelling it. Without giving the thug any time to react, another dagger suddenly slid out from Yan Liqiang’s left sleeve and that dagger was impaled into the thug’s chest in just a split second...

Yan Liqiang carried not only a dagger on him, but two...

The thug let out a blood-curdling scream, coughed out a mouthful of blood, then collapsed on the ground as he was killed by Yan Liqiang with just a single stab.

No one expected Yan Liqiang to be able to fool these people under such circumstances and even kill someone. Seeing Yan Liqiang who was much like a frenzied tiger, the two bodyguards standing beside Young Master Fu took a step forward together at the same time, shielding that gaudily-dressed fellow behind them.

Zhu An, who was behind him, reacted with a speed beyond Yan Liqiang’s expectations. All Yan Liqiang could feel was a burst of wind behind his back. If he continued charging to the front, he might’ve been able to break out from the ring. However, he would have to fully take the blow from Zhu An when he charged to the front, and this blow would most definitely heavily injure him and even leave him immobilized. Could he possibly escape from this bunch of people after sustaining this blow? Most definitely not.

While his thoughts flowed like electricity, Yan Liqiang had already made his decision. He clenched his teeth and leaned his body to the side. He did a roll on the ground, once again evading Zhu An’s attack.

Although the Lazy Donkey Roll technique didn’t seem all that graceful, it was oftentimes the most effective technique for evading enemy attacks.

Zhu An didn’t expect for Yan Liqiang to not only be able to murder one of his men right under his nose, but he also actually successfully evaded his attacks twice. At this point, he was infuriated by Yan Liqiang. “BRAT, YOU ARE COURTING DEATH!” Zhu An bellowed in rage. A red light shone from his body, and a Dharmic projection of sinister crimson venomous snakes instantly materialized.

The moment the Dharmic projection of venomous snakes appeared, Zhu An’s palms turned red. At the same time, he spread his thumbs out from the other fingers, turning both of his hands into the shape of a snake head. When he threw his hands out, the hissing noises, akin to venomous snakes flicking their tongues, could be heard in the air.

Both Zhu An’s hands were like two venomous snakes; one on the left and one on the right. They intertwined together and dove towards Yan Liqiang.

Yan Liqiang had barely jumped up from the ground when he realized Zhu An’s hands were already right before his eyes. But, he wasn’t bothered by his hands. One of his daggers made for Zhu An’s throat, while the other stabbed towards his chest.

Shortly after a few techniques, Yan Liqiang swung his daggers when he saw an opening and hacked towards both of Zhu An’s hands.

WhenYan Liqiang’s daggers were about to chop off Zhu An’s hands, Yan Liqiang felt his sight waver. Zhu An’s hands changed, and he spread his fingers apart like a wide, open mouth. Both of his hands immediately gripped the backs of Yan Liqiang’s daggers.

“OPEN!” At Zhu An’s yell, Yan Liqiang felt his hands shake. A forceful, powerful wave surged forth, causing him to lose his grip on the daggers which then flew out of his grasp.

Yan Liqiang snarled and hurled his fist towards Zhu An. A tiger roar was heard in the air.

Zhu An smiled coldly when he faced Yan Liqiang’s punch. One of his hands transformed strangely like a snake and reached upwards from below Yan Liqiang’s arm. His five fingers then instantly dug into the depression on Yan Liqiang’s right chest, right above his armpit.

With this, Yan Liqiang felt as though he had just been stabbed by a steel knife through his chest. The pain first radiated from the bone marrow before half of his body instantly turned numb. As soon as he coughed up a mouthful of fresh blood, he was sent flying by Zhu An’s attack. He tumbled over a few meters on the ground before he came to a stop...

Seeing Yan Liqiang sent flying by Zhu An, one of the thugs at the side thought Yan Liqiang had already lost his fighting strength. Thinking that he could exploit the situation, he rushed forward without thinking and tried to restrain Yan Liqiang.

When he was about to lift his leg and step on Yan Liqiang, his leg was suddenly encircled by Yan Liqiang’s left arm. Yan Liqiang only exerted some force on his single arm to flip that thug over onto the ground before he hammered his face with his fist. He punched so hard that the thug was left with a bloodied face...

Right after that, Yan Liqiang’s left hand passed underneath that person’s armpit, and he locked his arm around the thug’s neck with his hand that was holding a weapon from behind. This position only allowed that thug to kick his legs against the ground as he struggled to no avail.

“RELEASE HIM!!” Zhu An and the other thugs in black yelled.

Yan Liqiang was wearing a chilly expression on his face. He was half-kneeling on the ground, coughing up blood while smiling mournfully like an injured wolf. His gaze was sharp like the blade of a sword, exuding boundless rage and murderous intention as he glared fiercely at the people around him. He exerted force on his arm and immediately broke the struggling thug’s neck single-handedly with a snap.

The thug’s body went limp and collapsed on the ground like mud.

This was the second person Yan Liqiang had finished off.

He picked up the knife in that thug’s hand with his left hand and watched everyone in the surroundings with a bloodthirsty gaze while he was half-kneeling on the ground.

When Yan Liqiang was about to stand up, he realized that he had completely lost sensation along the entire right side of his body, starting from his right shoulder to his right hand and all the way down to his right leg. He couldn’t even stand up. Other than pain and numbness, half his body couldn’t perceive any other sensations.

The surrounding area instantly fell silent. Most of the thugs who closed in on Yan Liqiang earlier retreated a step back due to fear.

When Yan Liqiang’s sharp gaze swept past Young Master Fu, Fu Zixiang’s countenance paled slightly. He was quivering lightly and didn’t even dare to meet Yan Liqiang’s gaze.

“Young Master Fu, you cannot keep this person. He is different than those from before. The moment you give him room to breathe, he will break your neck. You can’t possibly tame a carnivorous, violent wolf into a rabbit. Young Master Fu, if you insist on wanting him, he might just kill you any moment...” Zhu An stood somewhere not far from Yan Liqiang while watching him. He took a deep breath and warned Young Master Fu.

Although some men might have been trained by them to become a male escort through threats, promises, and torture, Zhu An could tell right away from the look in Yan Liqiang’s eyes that a man like him would never yield to anyone, not to mention a male escort. Keeping someone like this by your side was akin to hanging a knife right above the bed you slept in.

He also couldn’t understand why a handsome youth like Yan Liqiang would have such a violent and vicious side to him. The innermost being of this youth and his exterior were two polar opposites.

After making an enemy with this kind of person, one definitely couldn’t afford to keep him around.

“If you agree to follow me today... and obey my orders, I will let them spare you! What do you think?” Young Master Fu swallowed nervously, and then shouted at Yan Liqiang from outside the ring.

“Go f*ck yourself!” Yan Liqiang bloodily spat at Young Master Fu, then pointed at him with his knife. “If I, your father, cannot kill a thrash like you in this lifetime, I will make sure to behead you in my next life!”

“Zhu An, I’ll... leave everything up to you...” When Young Master Fu saw Yan Liqiang’s expression, he shook his head and let out a reluctant sigh. Then with a sweet voice he said, “I didn’t expect you to be someone so ungrateful. For such a beautiful man like yourself, why make life so difficult for yourself? Such a pity!”

“There’s no need to feel pity for him, Young Master Fu. You will probably meet better ones in the future!” Zhu An smiled and extended his hand. The thug beside him immediately handed over a knife to him. With the knife in his hand, Zhu An inched slowly towards Yan Liqiang.

He didn’t actually expect to get into trouble thanks to his handsome face during this reincarnation. If he knew things would turn out this way, he’d rather his appearance to look like how it was in his previous life. Yan Liqiang smiled bitterly in his heart and tightly gripped the dagger in his hand as he watched Zhu An coming towards him. There was only one thought running through his mind right now and no one could have guessed it – would he still be given another chance to reincarnate after dying this time?

Zhu An wiped the blade of his knife with a cruel smile on his face as he drew nearer to Yan Liqiang, step by step. When he was two meters away from Yan Liqiang, he squinted his eyes and was about to end Yan Liqiang’s life. Yan Liqiang’s entire body stiffened, ready to pull another scapegoat down with him before his death...

A faint sigh was suddenly heard by everyone.

“I have traversed the world for a few decades before I finally stumble across a satisfying potential disciple. Now, who dares to kill my disciple before me...?”

Everyone turned their heads around together in shock and discovered the old herb gatherer with a broken leg whom Yan Liqiang had just set down by the roadside earlier. Unbeknownst to anyone, he was standing and looking at those people who surrounded Yan Liqiang with an apathetic gaze, as though they were nothing more than ants.

Yan Liqiang blinked and stared at the old man’s supposedly broken leg. He thought his eyes were playing tricks on him. The bone of that old man’s broken leg was protruding outwards at a strange angle earlier and his leg was extremely swollen. Yet the very same leg had returned to normal before anyone realized it. At the same time, the aura around the old man had also become different.

“You’re nothing but a herb gathering old fart. What are you bluffing about accepting a disciple! You scared me...!” One of the thugs yelled indignantly right after recovering from his shock. He charged towards the old man with his weapon without thinking twice.

“BE CAREFUL, OLD MAN!” Yan Liqiang yelled in urgency.

The old man gave Yan Liqiang a smile. Before he even had to move, a golden light ray flew out of his sleeve. It went into the ear of that thug who was charging towards him at lightning speed, and then came out from his nose...

At first, Yan Liqiang thought the speed of that golden light was blazing fast. However, he only knew what ‘fast’ truly meant in the next second. Compared to the speed earlier, that was like slow-motion. His eyes widened like saucers as he was unable to follow that golden light anymore. He could only catch the sight of that golden light making a round at lightning speed with his naked eyes before all the thugs around him, including Zhu An and the other two bodyguards by Young Master Fu’s side, collapsed limply on the ground in the following second...

In the end, Young Master Fu was left alone standing there in a daze as if he had just seen a ghost. Seeing everyone around him collapse one after another, he shrieked, “GHOST...!!” and was ready to flee...

Yan Liqiang saw the old herb gatherer pointing a finger at Young Master Fu from twenty or thirty meters away. A speck of white light shot out from his finger like a meteor, hitting Young Master Fu. In just a split moment, Young Master Fu was unable to move his body, as if he were under a paralysis spell.

The old man then came to Yan Liqiang’s side. He looked at him and smiled, “Luckily that person has only trained his Hundred Venomous Snakes Hands to the third layer realm, which barely scratched the surface. Had it been above the seventh layer and hit you, I would have had to spare a little more effort...”

The old man spoke and then reached out to slap Yan Liqiang’s right shoulder. At that moment, Yan Liqiang felt a warm current pouring forth from his shoulder to the inside of his body. The pain and numbness on the right side of his body instantly vanished and he felt just like a defrosted fish when he regained the ability to move.

Yan Liqiang immediately jumped up. He then wordlessly rushed to Young Master Fu who was holding the knife in his hand. Young Master Fu watched in terror as Yan Liqiang lifted the knife in his hand and brought it down. Young Master Fu’s head was sent flying before it fell and tumbled on the ground...

“Marvellous, simply marvellous. You remind me of myself in the past...” At the sight of Yan Liqiang beheading Young Master Fu without any hesitation, the old man laughed heartily while clapping his hands from the side.

In just matter of a few seconds, those corpses which had been circled by the golden light on the floor earlier started to soften up as they slowly melted into puddles of blood....

Yan Liqiang couldn’t help but feel a chill in his heart when he witnessed this scene.

When he realized that the old man was staring at him with a smile, Yan Liqiang threw away the knife in his hand and immediately came up to the old man. He kneeled down and directly bowed down to him three times; he bowed so low that his forehead touched the ground. “Greetings from Yan Liqiang to Master!”

“Hahaha!” The old man laughed loudly, then pulled Yan Liqiang up. “My good disciple, someone is coming. We shall talk more in the sky.”

When Yan Liqiang was still wondering what he meant by ‘talk more in the sky’, a whooshing sound raced beside his ear. His heart nearly leaped out from his chest because his body bounced upwards as though he were bungee jumping, soaring up to more than a hundred meters above the ground in just a flash. The moment Yan Liqiang nearly screamed in panic when he felt his body falling back towards the ground, a blue, gigantic eagle with two pairs of wings with a wingspan of twenty meters flew towards them at lightning speed. That old man then helped Yan Liqiang sit securely on the back of that gigantic eagle...

The screech of the gigantic eagle reverberated through the skies. It then spread its wings, raised its altitude, and soared into the skies. All Yan Liqiang could feel was the powerful gust of wind blowing against his face which was so hard that his face started to hurt. He could barely even keep his eyes open. In just a few seconds, he felt his mind going blank as it became harder to breathe. His body grew heavy, and then all he could see was darkness.

“Oops, I almost forgot that this disciple of mine doesn’t seem to be a Martial Warrior. He might not be able to endure Blue Luan’s speed in the sky...”

These were the last words Yan Liqiang faintly heard before he lost his consciousness...

I... &*#$%%...&...

The past few days seemed to have been very exhausting for Yan Liqiang. As soon as he lost consciousness, he felt as though he had fallen into a deep slumber. Uncertain of how much time had passed, when Yan Liqiang woke up, he found himself lying in a mountain cave. The first thing that came into his view when he opened his eyes were stalactites which were hanging from above the cave ceiling like gigantic bamboo shoots. Water droplets dripped to the ground from the stalactites, forming a small pool about ten meters away from him.

A ray of light shined through the crack in the ceiling of the cave. The entire cave appeared to be extremely silent. Only the dripping sound of water droplets reverberated in Yan Liqiang’s ears.

Yan Liqiang’s thoughts froze for two seconds before everything came flooding back to his mind again. He recalled the battle at the foot of Longhu Mountain, the old herb gatherer, and the scene before he lost his consciousness...

He then jumped up all of a sudden.

Yan Liqiang tried moving his body first and discovered that he was perfectly uninjured, save for the little sore and bruise on his right shoulder, at the spot right above his armpit. That was probably an external wound Zhu An had left on his body, but it was nothing serious.

Yan Liqiang let out a long sigh and walked out of the mountain cave.

The cave was located halfway up on a tall mountain, with a forest right outside of it. The clouds below the mountain stretched on as far as the eyes could see and he was shrouded by the clouds and mist. The faint fragrance of orchid in the fresh air was soothing to one’s senses.

Watching such scenery made one feel as though they had left the secular world.

The old man sat cross-legged below a pine tree. He looked at Yan Liqiang who had just exited the cave with a smile.

Yan Liqiang went over to him and bowed to the old man. “Greetings, Master!”

“Come, have a seat. I’m sure you must have a lot of questions. We can have a good chat now. There are some things I ought to let you know too!”

Seeing the kind face in front of him, Yan Liqiang totally couldn’t imagine how this old man looked when unblinkingly used a golden light to kill more than ten corpses without any traces left behind during that time.

“Although I’ve already addressed you as Master, I still don’t know your name or your hometown!”

“I’m from the Liu Clan and my full name is Liu Guiyuan. I’m one of the Elders in the Divine Sword Sect, one of the four major sects!”

Divine Sword Sect? He was actually from the Divine Sword Sect?! The three words shook Yan Liqiang’s mind to its core.

Although Yan Liqiang could pretty much guess that his master had an unusual background, he didn’t expect he would actually be an Elder from the Divine Sword Sect, the leader of the four major sects.

The so-called four major sects in the world were the Divine Sword Sect, Wise Ruler Sect, Jade Luo Palace, and the Soul Mountain Sect.

The four major sects were all unique in their own ways. The Soul Mountain Sect was well-rounded with countless individuals of special talents. Apart from martial arts, the medical group within Soul Mountain Sect was similarly world-renowned. The Wise Ruler Sect was known as the advocate of manslaughter. Their disciples loved battles the most as they were often seen enlisting themselves in the army and participating in deadly battles on the battlegrounds. Within the army of the Great Han Empire, the influence of Wise Ruler Sect far exceeded the three other major sects.

Jade Luo Palace on the other hand, was the most mysterious amongst them all. To date, no one knew the exact location of Jade Luo Palace. The members of Jade Luo Palace usually kept a low profile however, they would make an appearance every ten years or so and do something earth-shattering.

The Divine Sword Sect was known as the leader of the four major sects. Every sword technique in this world originated from this sect. Within the sect, a legion of ten thousand swordsmen could be easily gathered with just an order, crushing anyone who stood in their way. Apart from sword techniques, the riding techniques from the sect had always been world-renowned.

Pingxi Prefectural Governor, Ye Tiancheng’s son was in the Divine Sword Sect. He had already advanced as Supreme Martial Warrior, and thus he gained the rights to cultivate in the inner Divine Sword Sect.

If he joined the Divine Sword Sect, he’d end up in the same sect as Ye Tiancheng’s son. The road was indeed narrow for enemies[1].

At this moment, Yan Liqiang could only sigh at the wonders of fate, which he revered. Little did he expect that after his reincarnation and wandering about, he actually managed to get into the Divine Sword Sect, become a disciple to one of the Elders there, and end up in the same sect as the son of his nemesis.

Liu Guiyuan thought his identity had stunned Yan Liqiang. After allowing some time for Yan Liqiang to process the information in silence, he continued speaking. “In the Divine Sword Sect, my public identity is an Elder and my duty is managing the medicinal pill valley of the sect. However, I have another secret identity and job there. I am the Sect Guardian of the Divine Sword Sect...”

“Sect Guardian?” Yan Liqiang gave Liu Guiyuan a bewildered look upon hearing the two words for the first time. He had never heard of that before. “What are the duties of a Sect Guardian?”

“Every major sect has a Sect Guardian. The Sect Guardian is the most hidden guardian within the sect. At peaceful times, they conceal themselves well and blend in with the rest. However, when a great catastrophe befalls any sect, the duty of a Sect Guardian is to guard the most important secret techniques of the sect and ensure that they don’t fall into the hands of any outsiders. At the same time, he will also have to find separate location and ensure that the sect’s lineage continues on...”

“I understand now. So this ‘Sect Guardian’ that Master speaks of is protecting something akin to the seed of a sect. During a critical situation, Master can bring this seed you have been protecting elsewhere to let it grow so that it can once again become a big tree which will touch the sky.”

“That’s exactly right!” Liu Guiyuan nodded with an extremely solemn expression on his face. “My identity as the Sect Guardian is top secret even within the Divine Sword Sect. Before today, apart from myself and the Sect Master of Divine Sword Sect, no third person in this world knows of this. Not even the group of Elders in Divine Sword Sect, my family, and my other few disciples know about this identity of mine. You are prohibited from exposing my identity to anyone else. Otherwise, you will face the wrath of the sect laws. By then, not even the Gods can save you!”

“If Master’s identity as a Sect Guardian is a classified information in the Divine Sword Sect, then why did you tell me?”

Liu Guiyuan looked at Yan Liqiang serenely. “You are a smart one. Why don’t you guess why I let you in on this secret?”

Yan Liqiang swallowed hard and racked his brain before he gave an uncertain answer. “Master... you aren’t thinking about cultivating me into the next Sect Guardian of the Divine Sword Sect, are you?”

“Hahaha, that’s my plan!” Liu Guiyuan laughed heartily.

“Why me though? Didn’t you just mention that you already have other disciples in the Divine Sword Sect, Master?”

“Although my few other disciples in the Divine Sword Sect can inherit my other areas of studies, none of them are able to succeed my position and duty as a Sect Guardian. The secret technique that the Sect Guardian is required to grasp in the end isn’t something any ordinary disciple can inherit. In order to become the Sect Guardian of the Divine Sword Sect, the candidate’s physical aptitude doesn’t only have to be the best of the best. There are also unusually high demands for their morality and character. One cannot become the Sect Guardian of the Divine Sword Sect without a good balance between toughness and kindness, one-of-kind physical aptitude, great perseverance, courage, and intelligence. In this world, sects leave their main doors open and mass recruit disciples. There are disciples all over the world searching for a master. However, in the case of a Sect Guardian, only the master can search for their own disciple. It actually took me a few decades to find someone like you!”

“I only met you once on Mount Longhu. Even if I was kind enough to carry you down the mountain, how can you be sure that I am a suitable candidate?”

Liu Guiyuan looked at Yan Liqiang with a smile. “I was the one who paid for your meal when you dashed after dining in Cloud Crane Restaurant. You may think that we’ve only met once, but I’ve been following you around for a long time. That night, when you killed Wu Tao along with the other two in the forest and mutilated their corpses to get rid of the evidence, I was right beside you, but you didn’t notice me. Over the past few days, I’ve been watching your every move. I already predicted that the people from Rising Moon Tower were going to mess with you. The incident on Mount Longhu was merely the final test I put you through to assess your character. It wasn’t difficult for you to carry me down to the mountain’s foot; the difficult part is how you went through the trouble of carrying me up the mountain again just to find a key. No one out of a million would do what you did. If you were willing to turn around with me on your back to find the key I’d lost, then you are my fated disciple; the next Sect Guardian of my Divine Sword Sect. If you had abandoned me and left, then that merely meant you were not the one I was searching for. That also meant that whatever happened to you next would not concern me...”

Upon hearing such revelation, Yan Liqiang rejoiced, but at the same time, he couldn’t help but break into cold sweat too. His first joy was that his kindness that day on the mountain path had allowed him to stand against the final test that Liu Guiyuan had set for him. His second joy was the fact that his secret wasn’t exposed because he had always been on the move these few days, and thus he had no time to cultivate Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing.

“So are you going to bring me back to the Divine Sword Sect now, Master?”

“Hahaha. If I were to bring you back directly now, our identities would be too obvious to skeptical people!” Liu Guiyuan shook his head. “We are already in Lai Province. The main branch of the Divine Sword Sect is just two hundred li away from here, on Mount Sword. All you have to do is just go to Mount Sword and request for admission to the Divine Sword Sect...”

Yan Liqiang hesitated for a moment. “I have been wandering around all these years without ever settling down. Will the Divine Sword Sect still accept me despite my inability to clarify my background?”

“Under normal circumstances, they definitely won’t. But with this, the Divine Sword Sect will definitely accept you!” Liu Guiyuan took out the very same key he was looking for on Mount Longhu with Yan Liqiang carrying him on his back that day and put it in Yan Liqiang’s hands. “When you arrive at the Divine Sword Sect, show them this key and tell them you would like to join the sect!”

Yan Liqiang astonishingly looked at the key in his hand. He simply couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that this tiny key held such a great ability. It was just a metal key which looked very normal; it was not that different from any other ordinary key. At most, it only had some patterns imprinted on it. How was it possible that he could join the Divine Sword Sect just by relying on it?

“Master, is this key a keepsake of the Divine Sword Sect?”

“Indeed it is. If anyone ever helped an Elder from the Divine Sword Sect in times of need when they were out on a job, they would leave this key with that person. This is so that if anyone ever brings this key back to the sect and requests any sort of assistance from the Divine Sword Sect, the sect will try to help that person to the best of its ability as a way of repaying the favor that the person has done for the Divine Sword Sect in the past! This key was something that was left behind by one of the Elders in the sect a few years ago in Hu Province. At that time, the Elder was heavily injured and fell into the water during an intense battle with someone else in Hu Province. In the end, he was rescued by a wandering physician. Hence, the Elder left this key with that wandering physician and told him to come search for him at the Divine Sword Sect if he ever faced a difficult situation in the future...”

“Will I get into trouble for holding this key?”

“That will be up to the will of the Heavens!” Liu Guiyuan sighed. “That elder had passed away a few years ago. Before his passing, he asked me to look for that wandering physician in Hu Province and pay him a visit to see how he was doing. Two years ago, I arrived at Hu Province and found the wandering physician, but he also had similarly aged. When he realized I was there to visit him on the behalf of someone, he returned this key to me and then passed away not long after. Take this key to the Divine Sword Sect and identify yourself as the grandson of that wandering physician. Just tell them that the wandering physician had passed this key onto you before he passed away and told you to come to the Divine Sword Sect...”

“What happens after I go to the Divine Sword Sect?”

“You shall cultivate like any other disciple in the sect. I won’t give you any preferential treatment. You will have to rely on yourself for everything. Do not reveal our relationship to anyone. I will wait until you advance as a Supreme Martial Warrior before I officially accept you as my disciple when the time is right, and then I will secretly pass on the lineage of Sect Guardian to you!”

“Master, have you never doubted my background?”

“To me, just knowing what kind of person you are is more than enough. Your background is not a concern.” Liu Guiyan looked at Yan Liqiang. His gaze was filled with wisdom and benevolence. “A youth your age should still be at home, filial to your father and mother while enjoying the warmth of family. Yet you are wandering alone outside, experiencing all kinds of hardships. For you to so painstakingly try to join a major sect despite being unable to clarify your own background, you are most likely from a broken family and wish to become competent enough to take revenge against your enemies. Am I right?”

Yan Liqiang’s eyes slightly reddened. He bit his lips and nodded.

“Cultivate well when you are in the Divine Sword Sect then. The only factor that can stop one from exacting revenge is their own incompetence. By the time you are competent enough, killing your enemy will be no different than killing a chicken. Nothing can stop you from taking any sort of revenge.”

Yan Liqiang nodded at his words...

Two days later, Yan Liqiang stood outside the mountain gate of the Divine Sword Sect. Staring at the gate, he couldn’t shake off the amazement that filled his heart...

Within a radius of more than two thousand kilometers from him, lofty mountains which touched the skies filled his field of vision, the summits of the mountains were like sword tips. The steep mountains were amazing sights to behold. They rose steeply from the ground and penetrated through the blue dome of heaven. The summit of the highest mountain was invisible. Clouds and mist shrouded the mountain at its waist and waterfalls could be seen cascading down from the summit. The view around him was like a paradise. Even the shortest mountain stood about a thousand meters. They were scattered about like the stars in the sky, imposing and magnificent.

Yan Liqiang simply couldn’t imagine just what kind of extraordinary workmanship it took to create such a marvel.

The entire mountain gate of the Divine Sword Sect was made up of nine towering gates connected together. There was a flight of staircase with no less than a total of three hundred and sixty steps leading towards the gate. Yan Liqiang ascended the steps slowly and saw a wide and spacious field akin to a public square in front of the mountain gate of the Divine Sword Sect. The mountain gate faced that public square.

Countless youths were passing through the mountain gates, carrying a longsword on their back. Each and every one of them seemed to be in high spirits. Under the sunlight, the reflection of sword blades shone from time to time on the distant mountain peak. It seemed like many people were practicing swordplay on that peak.

Seeing Yan Liqiang standing outside of the Divine Sword Sect’s mountain gate, quite a number of youths passing through the mountain gate glanced at him out of curiosity. They were secretly amazed by Yan Liqiang’s attractiveness.

“Wow, this guy is really handsome. Is he a new disciple in our sect? Why have I never seen him before?!”

“Perhaps he wishes to join our sect!”

“But the sect isn’t recruiting right now...”

“Maybe he’s just here to take a look around...”

The discussions among the people in the surrounding area traveled to Yan Liqiang’s ears from time to time.

Two rows of swordsmen stood outside the gate. All of them were dressed in black swordsman attire and exuded powerful auras. Each of them had a hand placed on the hilt of their sword which hung by their waist as they stood watch, looking steadily forward.

Yan Liqiang took a deep breath, fondling the key he held in his hand before he walked towards the Divine Sword Sect’s gate with large strides.

Liu Guiyuan wasn’t at the Divine Sword Sect currently. He was only going to return after a few months, deliberately picking a different time from Yan Liqiang’s arrival at the sect so that no one would suspect the connection between them. Even when Liu Guiyuan returned, he wasn’t supposed to notice a normal disciple like Yan Liqiang who wasn’t even a Martial Warrior yet. Therefore, before Yan Liqiang advanced as a Supreme Martial Warrior which allowed him to enter the inner Divine Sword Sect, he might not be seeing Liu Guiyuan for a long time or even a few years. He would have to rely on himself for everything. From Liu Guiyuan’s perspective, this was merely a small trial for him to join the Divine Sword Sect. The Sect Guardians of the Divine Sword Sect were also once disciples of the sect before becoming Sect Guardians.

Every Sect Guardian of the Divine Sword Sect came with heavy responsibilities of protecting the key people who could ensure that the lineage of the Divine Sword Sect was passed on at crucial moments. People holding this kind of role were definitely not flowers in a greenhouse. They were powerful candidates destined to be rigorously trained by the Divine Sword Sect through various ways and methods. Only the most excellent disciples of all could earn the right to undertake such heavy responsibilities.

Yan Liqiang knew very well that if he wished to take revenge, then this sect before his eyes, this very platform, was his biggest hope. If he could earn a reputation in the Divine Sword Sect, only then was there a possibility for him to exact his revenge.

“Halt! The mountain gate of the Divine Sword Sect is an important place!”

When Yan Liqiang neared the entrance of the Divine Sword Sect’s gate, a swordsman in his thirties raised his hand, stopping Yan Liqiang dead in his tracks. He exuded an intense aura and was fully dressed in a purple-colored swordsman attire, with a longsword hanging by his waist.

Yan Liqiang recalled the briefing Liu Guiyuan had given to him before. The people wearing purple swordsman attire were the official gatekeepers of the Divine Sword Sect’s mountain gate. As soon as he saw one of them, he could take out that key and loudly state his purpose in coming here.

“I am here to return a key from the Divine Sword Sect. Please unlock the Lock of Requital!” Yan Liqiang announced loudly and raised the key he had taken out high above his head so that everyone in the surrounding area could see.

Upon hearing Yan Liqiang’s announcement, quite a number of disciples who were passing through the gates abruptly stopped in their tracks. The official gatekeeper who was dressed in purple swordsman attire came towards Yan Liqiang with large strides. When he stopped in front of Yan Liqiang, he didn’t take the key. Instead, he took a good look at that key and then at Yan Liqiang before speaking in a deep voice, “Please come this way...”

Seeing the reaction of this swordsman dressed in purple, Yan Liqiang could guess that although cases like this were rare, they had happened before. Hence, even though this swordsman in purple before his eyes was a little surprised, he was still quite calm and collected.

Under the astonished gazes of everyone in the surroundings, the swordsman in purple immediately led Yan Liqiang through the mountain gate of the Divine Sword Sect. After walking a few hundred meters past the mountain gate, they arrived at a building surrounded by bamboo. A maid deftly served Yan Liqiang a cup of tea and the swordsman told Yan Liqiang to wait here patiently before he quickly left.

Yan Liqiang was left waiting for more than half an hour before the swordsman returned with two other people.

One of them was an elderly man with a long and narrow face, a pair of sharp eyes and a dignified demeanor. The other was a young man who followed behind that elderly man, holding two wooden boxes.

“Elder Jiang. This is the youth who brought the key with him!” The swordsman bowed towards the elderly man and reported to him.

“Alright, I will take over from here. Wuxin, you may attend to other matters!” The old man waved his hand lightly at the swordsman in purple.

“I shall take my leave then!” The swordsman then excused himself.

Elder Jiang came over and took a seat beside Yan Liqiang. His eyes were staring at Yan Liqiang’s face before he took a careful look at him from head to toe. Yan Liqiang stood up respectfully and bowed to the old man. “Greetings, Elder Jiang!”

“Let me have a look at the key...”

Yan Liqiang handed over the key. Elder Jiang picked up the key and carefully studied it. After caressing it a few times, he finally nodded rather emotionally. “There’s no mistake about it... The pattern on this key has the secret seal of our Divine Sword Sect. Tell me, where did you get this key? What are the orders of the person who gave you the key?”

Yan Liqiang recited the script that had been prepared for him by Liu Guiyuan, which was naturally flawless– Yan Liqiang was the grandson of a wandering physician. The wandering physician had handed over this key to him before he passed away and told him to take this key to the Divine Sword Sect to search for an Elder there with the surname Shi.

After listening to Yan Liqiang, Elder Jiang made a gesture for the young man standing beside him to open one of the wooden boxes he was holding up. There were bronze locks inside the wooden box, and each of them had a different inscription on them. The inscriptions were the names of people. Elder Jiang picked up a bronze lock with ‘Shi Yunfei’ engraved on it and inserted the key he was holding. With a slight twist, the bronze lock was unlocked with a snap.

Elder Jiang nodded. The young man put away the key and the bronze lock before he opened the other wooden box, revealing a rather aged book within. Elder Jiang picked up the book and flipped through it, then shut it and put it down again. He nodded to Yan Liqiang, the tone of his voice was a lot more friendly, “This key was indeed Elder Shi’s. The Elder had also reported to the sect about being rescued by a wandering physician at Hu Province so he bestowed upon him a key. Unfortunately, Elder Shi had already shuffled off this mortal coil a few years ago. I’m afraid you won’t be meeting him. Please do not hesitate to let me know if there’s anything you wish for the Divine Sword Sect to help!”

Yan Liqiang took a deep breath before he spoke, “I wish to join the Divine Sword Sect and become a disciple. I’d appreciate your assistance, Elder Jiang!”

Elder Jiang took a single glance at Yan Liqiang but didn’t seem to think that his request was too outrageous. “Let me take a look at your hand...”

Yan Liqiang extended his hand. When Elder Jiang grabbed his outstretched hand, a wave of icy cold energy instantly scurried from the meridian in Yan Liqiang’s wrist and then into his body like a little mouse. It coursed through Yan Liqiang’s entire body for two rounds before it returned.

Yan Liqiang knew that Elder Jiang was checking if he had learned any internal cultivation of the other sects, or if there were any Gu [1] or poison within his body, or if he was under control by someone else. Liu Guiyuan had already mentioned this procedure to him previously and told him that this was one of the methods to screen for spies from other sects.

“Wait here for a moment ...” Elder Jiang left with the young man who was holding the boxes as soon as he finished speaking.

Yan Liqiang instantly breathed out a sigh of relief at Elder Jiang’s departure because he knew that he had successfully joined the Divine Sword Sect. However, there was still some work to be done before he could get into the inner sect. Elder Jiang had to make some arrangements so all he needed to do was to just wait here. He would get an update in a moment’s time. Based on his age and strength, even if he managed to get into the Divine Sword Sect, he would be nothing but an ordinary external disciple [2]. For the caliber of the Divine Sword Sect, recruiting an external disciple wasn’t that much of a big deal as the number of external disciples the sect recruited annually through connections was already quite staggering...

Yan Liqiang had to wait slightly longer this time round. Almost an hour had passed before a man in his forties dressed in a light blue gown entered the room. He stood by the entrance and stared at Yan Liqiang.

“You are Yan Liqiang?”

Yan Liqiang stood up. “Yes, I am!”

“Come with me. I will guide you through the admission procedures!”

“Alright, thank you!” Yan Liqiang expressed his gratitude and followed the person out of the room.

“There are rules I must explain to you before you join the Divine Sword Sect!” That person spoke to Yan Liqiang with a stoic face and a businesslike manner while they walked, however, his attitude was pretty arrogant. “Every disciple the Divine Sword Sect recruits is one in a million and every single one of them are outstanding individuals. For an ordinary person to join Divine Sword Sect is an achievement as challenging as ascending the Heavens. For you to be able to join the sect today is a blessing you have raked up over your past few lives. You didn’t manage to get here on your own, but by relying on that key you have brought with you to unlock the Lock of Requital instead. The sect has only allowed you to join as a favor because a drop of water shall be returned with a burst of spring. Now that the sect has already returned the favor, you will have to act like all the other disciples in the sect. Do not expect any special treatment. You will do whatever the others are doing, eat the same food, use the same things and dress the same way as them. As to whether you can achieve anything here, it will all depend on you. From now onwards, the key you have brought with you will have nothing to with anything. The sect will definitely not tolerate any mistakes and violations of the sect’s law. Understand?”

“Understood. I am just an ordinary disciple after joining Divine Sword Sect, so I will have to behave according to the rules of the sect.” Yan Liqiang nodded and spoke calmly.

“I’m glad you understand. There were also people who joined the Divine Sword Sect like you in the past. Those greenhorns were from small places and were ignorant of the rules. They didn’t know their place here and were ungrateful enough to expect special or preferential treatment everywhere they went. They didn’t work hard, had neither aptitude nor strength and made no progress during their stay in the sect for a few years. Until now, they are just going around with their label of being the Divine Sword Sect’s external disciple, spending their entire lives being measly stewards who mingle with peasants at a few manors under the Divine Sword Sect!”

“Every person’s path is their own choice. They have no one to blame for the consequences!”

“Hm!” The man in light blue gown snorted. “That’s good if you think that way...”

After hitting Yan Liqiang with the last two lines, the man didn’t say anything else. He lowered his head and continued leading Yan Liqiang along the mountain path in the Divine Sword Sect compound. After walking for about twenty minutes, they arrived at a big courtyard.

The big courtyard occupied a land of more than ten mu. A signboard– Juying Courtyard [1] hung above the entrance of the courtyard. There was a building seven stories high within.

The man in the light blue gown led Yan Liqiang into that building. An elderly man dressed in gray came over hurriedly and swept his glance across Yan Liqiang before he put on a humble smile on his face. “Steward Xue, did we recruit another new disciple again today?”

“Yes. Help him with the admission procedures...”

“Understood...”

The admission procedure wasn’t that complex. All they needed was to register Yan Liqiang’s full name, age, clan, birthplace and obtain all Yan Liqiang’s fingerprints to build a simple profile for him. He took a look at Yan Liqiang’s body, then distributed two same sets of gray clothes, socks, shoes, and book titled “The Rules of the Divine Sword Sect”.

Soon after, Steward Xue left Juying Courtyard with Yan Liqiang and continued walking. After more than twenty minutes of walking, they arrived at another big courtyard with a sign which read ‘Commandment Courtyard’, then led Yan Liqiang to a row of rooms at the back of the courtyard.

Among the rows of rooms in the big courtyard, the faint recitation of a few youths could be heard.

“The Commandments of the Divine Sword Sect. The first commandment, you shall not betray your master and ancestors and disrespect your master... The second commandment, you shall not divulge techniques and help outsiders while living in the sect... The third commandment, you shall not kill those in the same sect and dishonor your clan...”

Steward Xue pushed open the door to the room where the recitation came from and led Yan Liqiang inside.

The room was a huge living quarter which could fit eight beds side by side. In front of every bed was a desk and a chair. When Yan Liqiang entered the room, there were four youths between fifteen and twenty, dressed in gray and seated on the chair in front of their bed. Each of them was reciting the “The Rules of the Divine Sword Sect” in their hands aloud while nodding.

All the four people stopped at the same time when they saw Steward Xue enter the room. They hurriedly stood up and stood respectfully beside their respective desks.

Steward Xue pointed at one of the beds in the room. “You will sleep there. For half a month, stay here and learn “The Rules of the Divine Sword Sect”. When you have learned the rules and know how what you can or cannot do in the sect, only then will we arrange your next destination!” After he finished his explanation to Yan Liqiang, Steward Xue took a single glance at one of the young men standing at the side. “Ma Liang...”

“Here!” The oldest among the four hurriedly took a step forward in response.

“He’s a newcomer. Teach him the rules!”

“Understood! Leave it to me, Steward Xue...”

After Steward Xue snorted, he turned around and left without saying anything else.

As soon as Steward Xue left, the gazes of the four people in the room instantly fell on Yan Liqiang. Every single one of them looked at Yan Liqiang up and down in curiosity. The other three kept quiet as Ma Liang came over with his head lifted and looked at Yan Liqiang arrogantly. A look of envy flashed across his eyes. He was quite annoyed by Yan Liqiang, regardless of his age or extremely handsome face. “What’s your name?”

“Yan Liqiang!”

“From where?”

“Hu Province!”

“It’s not easy to get into the Divine Sword Sect. We were all selected from the different branches of the Divine Sword Sect. How did you make it here?” Although the youth by the name Ma Liang had a smile on his face, Yan Liqiang wasn’t sure what he was thinking.

Yan Liqiang gave him a small smile and his talent in pretension once again exploded. “Oh, it was nothing. My grandfather happens to know one of the Elders of the Divine Sword Sect. It took only a word from that Elder to get me in here. Two hours ago, I wasn’t even part of the Divine Sword Sect...” He replied casually as if it was nothing.

Ma Liang’s countenance contorted, immediately looked as though he was choking. Yan Liqiang ignored him and walked to his bed, holding the clothes in his hands. He came before his bed without consulting anyone and placed his stuff on the desk before he started to tidy everything up.

“Um... which Elder recommended you here?” Ma Liang wasn’t willing to give up and continued pressing harder on the topic.

“Sorry, Steward Xue just ordered me to avoid mentioning the name of that Elder or try to earn myself any special treatment in the sect. I was told to keep a low profile and act like an ordinary disciple of the Divine Sword Sect. Brother Ma, you can just treat me like any other ordinary disciple. Please don’t give me any special treatment either, otherwise, Steward Xue will be upset if he knew!”

“W-Well, I only asked out of curiosity...” Ma Liang’s face was all smiles. His attitude towards Yan Liqiang instantly took a 180-degree change, as he was suddenly brimming with enthusiasm. “Brother Liqiang, if you have any doubts, you can ask me anything! Oh right, now that you are part of the Divine Sword Sect, you will have to get changed. Only the core disciples, Elders and above can wear whatever they like. There are dress codes for everyone else within the mountain gate of the sect. We can’t just wear whatever we please...”

“Fine, I will get changed now...” Since it was all men in the room and he reckoned that he would be staying with the same bunch of people for the next few days, Yan Liqiang didn’t bother to hide anything. He stripped in front of everyone and changed into the gray clothes he had just received earlier.

The gray clothes were of made of cotton fiber. Although the quality of the fabric wasn’t that great, it wasn’t too bad either. After getting dressed and tying a gray belt around his waist, Yan Liqiang was in the same attire as Ma Liang and the rest.

“Hahaha, as expected of Brother Liqiang. A handsome man indeed looks good in anything!” Ma Liang didn’t forget to flatter Yan Liqiang from the side.

“Does wearing this attire make me a disciple of the Divine Sword Sect?”

“These gray clothes are the attire for external disciples of the sect, or more accurately, the ‘odd jobs disciples’. In a few days time, we will leave and take up odd jobs on the mountain...”

Much like how a newly recruited staff to a company had to be trained, Yan Liqiang treated his first few days’ experiences at the Commandment Courtyard as joining the Divine Sword Sect’s orientation. And at the core of his training was that little book he received – ‘The Rules of the Divine Sword Sect’.

Every commandment, rule and the behavior every disciple in the sect had to conform to in the Divine Sword Sect, and various matters ranging from major things like cultivation and apprenticing to a master to minor things like dress code and meals were all stated in that book. The first mission of every disciple upon joining the sect was to drill the contents of that book into their heads. If one were to compare the Divine Sword Sect to any armed group, that book was pretty much like the military regulations for the Divine Sword Sect.

The few days he spent in the Commandment Courtyard was monotonous, difficult and dull.

Every morning at five o’clock, Yan Liqiang had to get up together with the other four people he stayed with. After washing up, they had to start cleaning and tidying around the Commandment Courtyard before taking their breakfast around eight or nine o’ clock.

Breakfast was brought to them by the servant disciples of the Commandment Courtyard. They had the same food for breakfast, lunch and dinner– steamed buns.

Two steamed buns for breakfast, two steamed buns for lunch and two steamed buns with some salted vegetables for dinner. So the standard daily meal for everyone was six steamed buns along with some salted vegetables. Every morning, they would receive their meal for the day. Those steamed buns were still slightly warm for breakfast, but by noontime, they had already gone cold and hard. Even so, they had no choice but to continue eating the stone-cold steamed buns for both lunch and dinner.

After breakfast, there would be a lawyer from the Commandment Courtyard to explain to the five of them the various taboos in the Divine Sword Sect or the etiquette for different situations for half an hour. They would then stay in their room to self-study and memorize those contents.

The lawyers in the Commandment Courtyard naturally weren’t like those lawyers who helped others file lawsuits in his previous life. Although the two share the same title, they weren’t the same. To put it simply, the lawyers in Commandment Courtyards were like the police or military officers in the Divine Sword Sect. They were professionals in charge of upholding discipline as well as disciplining in the sect. The people who served as lawyers in the Commandment Courtyard were all outstanding disciples within the sect and were at least at the rank of elite disciples.

After lunch, another lawyer would bring them around for a walk within the Divine Sword Sect’s monastery, allowing them to familiarize themselves with the peaks as well as the locations of courtyards and halls in the sect. After that, they would return to the Commandment Courtyard and continue with their self-study on ‘The Rules of the Divine Sword Sect’.

By nighttime, after dinner, they were allowed to exercise for a bit in the backyard of the Commandment Courtyard, practice their fist techniques, do physical training, laundry or such. About nine o’clock at night, the lights would be out on time for bedtime.

They’d then repeat the same cycle the next day...

The Divine Sword Sect’s monastery spanned a vast area of not less than a few thousand square kilometers. Everywhere in the sect was densely filled with mountain peaks of various sizes which penetrated the blue dome of heaven. At the foot of those mountains were deep ravines and valleys of different sizes and shapes. Since there happened to be 36 mountain peaks, the Divine Sword Sect named them after the 36 Heavenly Spirits among the Stars of Destiny. Since there were also numerous valleys, Divine Sword Sect gathered 72 of them and then similarly named them after the 72 Earthly Fiends among the Stars of Destiny.

Tiankui Peak, Tiangang Peak, Tianji Peak, Tianxian Peak, Tianyong Peak, Tianxiong Peak, Tianmeng Peak, Tianwei Peak...

Dikui Valley, Disha Valley, Diyong Valley, Diejie Valley, Dixiong Valley, Diwei Valley, Diying Valley...

There were a total of 108 locations and names. It was a no easy feat for a newcomer to be able to recite all the names, let alone recognize them. In addition to the ten great courtyards and the various halls within them among these peaks and valleys, if no one showed the disciples their way around to get them familiarized with the routes, it would be no joke if they got lost within the Divine Sword Sect. It wouldn’t be worthwhile if they got decapitated for wandering into the forbidden areas by mistake because they were lost.

...

After repeatedly eating cold steamed buns for a week, Yan Liqiang’s stomach started cramping whenever he saw steamed buns and it was actually the same for the rest. Even so, everyone just gritted their teeth and persevered. No one dared complain about anything because everyone had to make it past this stage.

Even though the process was quite difficult regardless of how others looked at it, at least to Yan Liqiang, he felt like the training and studies he had done over this half a month at the Commandment Courtyard was vital. That was because this kind of training and study could allow him to sufficiently understand the Divine Sword Sect in the shortest amount of time and understand the ‘game rules’ here. He was no longer in the dark or had to follow the crowd.

Yan Liqiang had been very serious about his studies. So as time passed by, his knowledge and understanding of the Divine Sword Sect deepened too.

The entire Divine Sword Sect followed a strict hierarchy. For each rank, the things they could do, the privileges they could enjoy and the obligations they had were made extremely clear to them. Nothing was left ambiguous.

The eight ranks within the Divine Sword Sect in ascending order were external disciple, inner disciple, elite disciple, direct disciple, core disciple, elder, grand elder and sect master. Among the five disciple classes, each was divided into upper, middle and lower class. Rumor had it that the ranks above elder, which were the grand elders and the sect master, were equal. However, since the grand elders cultivated in seclusion all year round, they didn’t get involved with the affairs of the sect. Thus, the Sect Master wielded absolute authority over the entire Divine Sword Sect.

With that, everyone in the Divine Sword Sect was categorized into a rigidly-stratified hierarchy of 18 levels. Disciples like Yan Liqiang who had just joined Divine Sword Sect’s main branch were all categorized in the lower class of the external disciples, at the bottom of the pyramid.

The Sect Master of the Divine Sword Sect stood at the pinnacle of the pyramid. Nicknamed the Sword King, rumors had it that Luqiu Mingyue’s cultivation had already advanced to a Martial King thirty years ago and he became a senator in the Great Han Empire’s Senate.

The number of grand elders among Divine Sword Sect was classified information. Not only Yan Liqiang, even the core disciples had no knowledge of such information.

Under Luqiu Mingyue were the 17 elders of the Divine Sword Sect. Each of them had their own respective duties and power of authority. Among the many ranks of disciples below the 17 elders, a few most outstanding disciples were renowned within the sect. It had only been less than two days since Yan Liqiang’s arrival and he had already heard about the title given to those most outstanding disciples– they were known as the ‘Seven Heroes, Three Braves and The Unrivaled’.

The Seven Heroes were well-known individuals among the elite disciples and direct disciples of the sect. The Three Braves were the three most outstanding figures among the core disciples while The Unrivaled was publicly recognized by millions of disciples as the top candidate of the sect. That person was claimed to have the most potential to take over the duties of the Divine Sword Sect’s Sect Master in the future. She was a woman named Ni Wushuang [1].

In just the blink of an eye, Yan Liqiang had stayed 15 days in the Commandment Courtyard. He learned all there was to learn, knew and memorized all the things he was supposed to know and memorize...

In the early morning of the 16th day, Steward Xue, whom Yan Liqiang had not seen for half a month, showed up once again. He handed him a metal waist tag with his name engraved on it, which symbolized his identity as a disciple in Divine Sword Sect.

Half a month ago, Yan Liqiang didn’t even know the meaning behind the light blue garb Steward Xue was dressed in. But now, he knew that the color Steward Xue wore indicated his position in the Divine Sword Sect– a middle-class elite disciple of the sect.

“Keep this waist tag. Next time you will need to use it to access particular locations within the Divine Sword Sect. I believe you know what consequences you will face if you lose this waist tag!”

“I do! Thank you, Steward Xue!”

Yan Liqiang cautiously put away the waist tag.

Today Yan Liqiang was the only person left in the Commandment Courtyard. Ma Liang and the rest had been there four days earlier than the day Yan Liqiang joined the Divine Sword Sect. Hence, they had completed the ‘training orientation’ four days earlier than him and had already left the Commandment Courtyard.

In those days, Ma Liang’s attitude towards Yan Liqiang had switched from arrogance to deference. He had been indirectly trying to pry information on the ‘connection’ that Yan Liqiang had in the sect. But, of course, Yan Liqiang didn’t divulge any information.

“Come with me.” Steward Xue said emotionlessly.

Yan Liqiang carried the small bundle he had packed on his back and left Commandment Courtyard with Steward Xue.

Half an hour later, Steward Xue directly sent Yan Liqiang to the Gray Hall at Dimo Valley then left after giving him a brief explanation.

...

The Gray Hall was a dedicated unit of the Divine Sword Sect tasked to make arrangements for the external disciples of the sect. All the external disciples were dressed in gray, thus this place was named the Gray Hall.

After Steward Xue left, one of the staff members dressed in black with the surname Huo from the Gray Hall looked at Yan Liqiang with a fake smile on his face. “You are Yan Liqiang?”

Yan Liqiang nodded.

“Are you familiar with what the Gray Hall does and the rules here?”

Yan Liqiang gave him another nod. Apart from cultivation, the external disciples in the main branch of the Divine Sword Sect were responsible for a large quantity of daily odd jobs in the sect. They were pretty much half a laborer in the main branch of the Divine Sword Sect.

“Good. From tomorrow onwards, you will be responsible for all the toilets on Tianqiao Peak.”

Yan Liqiang was stupefied. He never expected the first job he received upon coming to the Divine Sword Sect would actually be ‘a toilet chief’. What the f*ck? Just how rotten was his luck?

“What’s that? Didn’t you hear what I just said? Or are you being picky about dirty jobs like cleaning the toilets and refusing to do it? You still dare to be picky?” The expression on Servant Huo’s face instantly hardened, as if he was waiting for Yan Liqiang to jump up and say ‘no’.

A thought flashed through Yan Liqiang’s mind and his face immediately broke into a smile. “I heard you, Servant Huo. I will start cleaning the toilets on Tianqiao Peak tomorrow!”

“This is the key to your living quarters. It’s just beside the farmland at the foot of the mountain, right below Tianqiao Peak. There’s a room number on the key, you will find the room when you reach. If I hear anything about you not cleaning the toilets properly from any dissatisfied seniors on Tianqiao Peak, I believe you know the consequences!”

Yan Liqiang accepted the key and bowed to that bullsh*tting servant before he left without saying anything else...

Yan Liqiang held on to the key and left the Gray Hall gloomily. To be honest, even if he was aware of the fact that external disciples of Divine Sword Sect were required to do some odd jobs, he didn’t expect he’d be given the task to actually clean toilets.

That shitty Servant Huo was already an inner disciple and his position in the sect was a lot higher than his own, Yan Liqiang had never seen him before or had much contact with him either. He couldn’t understand why he was targeting him like that.

Even when he had exited the Gray Hall, Yan Liqiang felt as though he could still hear that shitty servant’s cold laughter behind his back.

Not even two minutes after Yan Liqiang left the Gray Hall, when he was walking on the path towards Tianqiao Peak, three people suddenly appeared at the fork ahead of him and walked towards him.

The trio was dressed in the same gray clothes as Yan Liqiang, tied with a gray belt. They were between eighteen and twenty years old. It took only a glance to tell that they were external disciples of the lowest rank among Divine Sword Sect. Ma Liang was standing right in the middle.

When Ma Liang saw Yan Liqiang, he seemed to still harbor malicious intentions towards him.

“How’s it going, Brother Liqiang? That’s not a bad job Servant Huo has arranged for you today, right?” Ma Liang pouted and looked at Yan Liqiang mockingly. “I thought you knew some elder from our sect. Hurry up and whine to him!”

One look at Ma Liang’s countenance could tell Yan Liqiang that Ma Liang had most definitely investigated his background around after leaving the Commandment Courtyard. He must have flown into a rage out of humiliation upon discovering he had been fooled and tried to get even. Being assigned the task of cleaning the toilets today was probably the work of Ma Liang in the background. He had deliberately made Yan Liqiang’s life difficult to humiliate him.

There were all sorts of open conflict or infighting during his career in his past life. Hence, such thing was also inevitable upon his arrival at the Divine Sword Sect in this life as well. There’s a saying that went, ‘Where there are people, there is politics’.

“Thank you for your concerns, Senior Martial Brother Ma. The job Servant Huo has arranged for me is indeed quite decent!” Yan Liqiang smiled elegantly, his demeanor refined and cultivated. He knew that Ma Liang had chosen to pop up at a time like this probably because he wanted to look at his humiliated face to satisfy his sadistic tendencies. The more he wished to see it, the more Yan Liqiang would ensure that things wouldn’t go his way and stifle him. After all, there was boundless joy in fighting with someone!

“Hahaha, indeed it is decent. Since the toilets on Tianqiao Peak will be cleaned by Brother Liqiang, guess you’ll be staying in the toilets every day from now on. An odd job like this is indeed a rare opportunity for most external disciples!” Ma Liang and the other two people beside him roared with laughter.

“Well, someone has to do this kind of job anyway. It’s no surprise that it was assigned to me!” Yan Liqiang was still smiling.

“Hahaha. Senior Martial Brother Huo came from the Divine Sword Sect of Cang Provincial Branch, I become acquainted with him back then. How about if you beg me, I’ll help you say something nice to Senior Martial Brother Huo so that he will arrange another easier job for you instead of that dirty job on Tianqiao Peak? What do you think?” Ma Liang crossed his arms and waited for Yan Liqiang to open his mouth and beg him.

There was no way Yan Liqiang would fall into a trap like this. He knew that if he really begged him, only more teasing and humiliation awaited him. Ma Liang would definitely never help him. This was where low people like Ma Liang derived their pleasure from.

“Why would you say something like that, Senior Martial Brother Ma?” Yan Liqiang gave Ma Liang a look of surprise, his natural talents in pretension once again exploding. Since it was impolite to not reciprocate, he gave Ma Liang a label so that he could show him a thing or two if the opportunity ever arose in the future. “Every Senior Martial Brother on Tianqiao Peak are skillful artisans of the Divine Sword Sect. Everyone on Tianqiao Peak has made significant contributions towards the Divine Sword Sect for it to get to where it is today. Their contributions must not go unnoticed. To be able to service everyone on Tianqiao Peak, even just by cleaning the toilets, is no big deal even if it’s a little dirty and tiring. For Senior Martial Brother Ma to say something like that, are you insinuating that serving everyone on Tianqiao Peak is a humiliation and torture that one should avoid like the plague?”

Ma Liang’s countenance contorted the moment he heard Yan Liqiang’s response. A sheen of cold sweat broke out on his back. He didn’t expect Yan Liqiang to actually twist his words. If Yan Liqiang managed to pin this sort of impression on him and word about this got out, the future prospect of an insignificant external disciple like him would be done for.

“What are you blabbering on about?!” Ma Liang paled. He was flustered and exasperated as he hurriedly tried to wash his hands of this. “I was only giving you a reminder. When did I ever utter any bad things about our Martial Brothers on Tianqiao Peak? Don’t you slander me!”

“You’re still a young lad, do not make any irresponsible remarks!” The countenance of the person beside Ma Liang also contorted. He waved his fist and warned Yan Liqiang. “If I catch wind of this out there, you will see how I’ll take care of you!”

“Forget about it. Since this person is so ungrateful, we will drop the subject here. Let’s go, hmph!” Ma Liang only snorted coldly and didn’t dare to make any further comments. He swung his sleeve and left, albeit rather pathetically, not daring to get involved with Yan Liqiang any further here.

Yan Liqiang smiled as he watched Ma Liang and the other two people retreated. He then continued making his ways towards Tianqiao Peak.

...

Yan Liqiang saw other Divine Sword Sect’s disciples when he was on his way. When he crossed path with the other disciples, he’d take the initiative to step aside instead of getting in their way. The rules of the Divine Sword Sect stated that disciples of lower ranks should always be modest and polite towards disciples of higher ranks. When those disciples of the sect saw Yan Liqiang, they couldn’t help but sneak a few more glances at Yan Liqiang. After all, a handsome and beautiful youth like Yan Liqiang was a very rare sight, even in a place like the Divine Sword Sect where the elites gathered.

...

Tianqiao Peak of the Divine Sword Sect was a little similar to the renowned Thousand Engineering Hall of the Soul Mountain Sect, except it was not as extensive as the latter. Tianqiao Peak appeared to be much more simple because the only thing they did here was metalworks!

It was said that there was some sort of unusual flame within the mountain of Tianqiao Peak. It was best suited to refine various types of metal and forging different types of metal wares, weapons or ornaments. Therefore, the entire Tianqiao Peak had turned into the manufacturing base of the Divine Sword Sect. As one of the world-renowned leaders of the four major sects, the people gathered at Tianqiao Peak were naturally very capable and talented individuals. From certain perspectives, the strength of Tianqiao Peak was top notch among the Great Han Empire. Among every sect, dynasty and even influential clan in the world, only less than seven could rival the metalworks of Tianqiao Peak.

In the Divine Sword Sect, Tianqiao Peak was the easiest to locate. As soon as one lifted their head, they’d notice a mountain peak with rising white smoke during the day, and flickering red light during the night. That mountain peak was none other than Tianqiao Peak...

When Yan Liqiang arrived at Tianqiao Peak, he didn’t ascend the mountain immediately. He first found the place he would be staying, at the foot of the mountain instead.

The place Yan Liqiang was to stay in was relatively remote, at the mountain basin at the foot of Tianqiao Peak. That basin occupied a land of three to four hundred mu; the size of a small farm. The basin was sheltered and surrounded by forests. On the mountain basin, there was a vegetable field of a few hundred mu and two orchards. On the hill beside the orchard were small courtyards adjacent to each other. Yan Liqiang stayed right in one of those courtyards.

Right beside the vegetable field, close to the slope of Tianqiao Peak, were two huge manure pits. All the trash and waste on Tianqiao Peak were discharged into those two huge manure pits through sturdy underground tubes made of clay. They were as wide as a water bucket and were directly connected to the inside of the two huge manure pits.

The moment Yan Liqiang arrived there, he understood that the basin was basically the waste disposal area of Tianqiao Peak, which at the same time, was also the base for food and vegetable production...

When Yan Liqiang arrived at his courtyard, he saw a few chickens running around in the yard. At the sight of Yan Liqiang entering the yard, a huge rooster instantly flapped its wings and flew onto a persimmon tree outside the yard from the ground...

It was already within Yan Liqiang’s expectation that Ma Liang and that shitty Servant Huo wouldn’t arrange a nice place for him. However, when he saw this place, he was elated. In Yan Liqiang’s eyes, this place was just like an isolated little mountain village, looking exactly like a farm. There were no villas or high buildings, but it was secluded enough and away from disturbances. A natural reserve like this was suitable for his cultivation. He had been living with a big group of people every day lately so he couldn’t find any opportunity to cultivate Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing, causing his cultivation to abruptly come to a halt. This place was just ideal for him.

It was no easy task if one wished to find a place like this in his previous life. People would have to spend money to experience a so-called organic farm tour. However, the environment of those organic farms were far inferior to this. The two manure pits were about two hundred meters away from this courtyard, but since there were vegetable fields and orchards in between, it was definitely not a problem...

The key Yan Liqiang was holding had ‘Tianqiao 3’ inscribed on it. Similarly, there was also a wooden sign with the word ‘Tianqiao 3’ hanging outside this small courtyard. Hence, Yan Liqiang entered the courtyard.

There was a small two-story wooden house in the small courtyard. The lowest story of the wooden house was supported by four wooden pillars that were so thick a person could wrap both arms around each one. There were no walls between the pillars and the area was open to the air. The four pillars were surrounded by a meter-high mud wall on three sides, leaving a gap in between them. Two chicken coops piled with rice straws were placed in the enclosed area in the middle of the yard. Beside the chicken coops were a big pile of tools such as brooms and wooden buckets. Beside those four pillars were stairs that led to the second floor of the small wooden house.

At first glance, this small wooden house appeared to be quite similar to a stilt house.

Although the stairs of the wooden house creaked under the feet, it was quite sturdy. At least one wouldn’t sway on the steps. Yan Liqiang went up to the second floor with his keys. Just about two steps on the left side of the stairs was a locked door. Yan Liqiang used the key to unlock the door and he went inside the house.

The house seemed to have been abandoned for quite a very long time. The floorboards inside the house were covered by a layer of dust. When Yan Liqiang crossed the room, his footprints were left on the floor. All the furnishing and displays of the house were extremely basic: there was only a bed, a table, a chair, and a wardrobe in the room. Even the wooden house itself was built out of the cheapest pinewood. Since the windows of the house were tightly shut, the entire house was filled with the distinct scent of pinewood.

The bed frame was very bare – there was a dusty board laid on top of it. There wasn’t even a cup or teapot on the table; only a lamp. The oil in the lamp had dried up a long time ago, leaving only a charred cotton wick.

Yan Liqiang could only smile wryly at this extremely simple accommodation. However, the only thing that comforted Yan Liqiang was that the wooden house wasn’t leaking and the inside of the house wasn’t humid; therefore, the smell of mold was completely absent. There shouldn’t be any issues in resting or sheltering from the rain here.

Yan Liqiang opened the wardrobe and took a look in it first. The upper part of the wardrobe was empty, but there was a set of bed sheets, a blanket, a mattress, and a mosquito net on the bottom. Although they looked a little worn out, they were still relatively clean and were neatly put away.

“Yan Liqiang, you will be staying here for quite a long while from now on. Do your best!”

He encouraged himself aloud before he put down the sack he was holding. Then he enthusiastically rolled up his sleeves and started tidying the room up.

The first thing Yan Liqiang did was open one of the tightly shut windows to ventilate the room. He then went downstairs and found a broom and dustpan among the pile of tools left there. He returned upstairs, swept all the dust away, then went downstairs again to find a mop and fetched some water with the wooden bucket. His bed, wardrobe, table, chair, and everything in his sight were wiped clean. When he was done and the room was dust-free, only then did he open the wardrobe to retrieve the mattress, bed sheets, and blanket that were sitting in there. He took them downstairs and hung them up on the bamboo poles used for hanging laundry, spreading them out to bask in the sun, including the mosquito net.

If he had enough time, he could’ve taken out the bed sheets and washed them before use. But since he would be officially ‘assuming the new post’ tomorrow, time didn’t allow him to do all that so he had no choice but to put up with this for now.

When Yan Liqiang found a wooden stick to slap the bed sheets and blanket he was airing out, two people came into the courtyard he was staying at. One of them greeted Yan Liqiang as soon as he entered the yard.

“Junior Martial Brother, are you the newcomer?”

The two people who had walked into the yard were around sixteen and seventeen years old. They were polar opposites of each other in terms of height and skin color. The taller of the two had fair skin and was quite handsome. On the other hand, the shorter of the two was tanned and well-built. Both of them were dressed in gray robes with gray belts tied around their waists. They were similarly the sect’s lower-ranked external disciples. When Yan Liqiang arrived here earlier, he vaguely recalled that both of them seemed to be doing their jobs of shucking corns by the field.

It was the tall and fair youth who spoke. There were two dimples on either side of his cheeks when he smiled, causing him to appear very friendly.

“Yes, I have just been assigned here.” Yan Liqiang stopped to reply.

“Haha, Junior Martial Brother, you are indeed unlucky! It has been a long time since anyone has lived in this courtyard. All the ones who stayed here were assigned to clean the toilets on Tianqiao Peak. That’s the dirtiest and most tiring job in the entire Divine Sword Sect. I didn’t expect you to get that. Did that Huo Bin bastard assign you here?!” That youth squinted his eyes.

“Yes, it was indeed Servant Huo of Gray Hall who assigned me here!”

“There’s no mistake about it, it’s the same bastard. There’s only one person from the Huo Clan in all of Gray Hall and that bastard is responsible for assigning the jobs on Tianqiao Peak. What did you do to offend him for him to actually do this to you, Brother?”

“I didn’t offend him. However, I kind of did something to someone in the Commandment Courtyard over those few days and he happened to know Servant Huo. That’s how I was assigned here. Oh, did both of you end up here because you offended Servant Huo too?”

“Of course. Otherwise, why would we call him a bastard?!” The fair youth seethed, “That day, I saw a quite beautiful Junior Martial Sister at Gray Hall so I couldn’t stop myself from approaching her to chat her up. I was only joking with her when that Bastard Huo saw me and that was how I ended up here. He even accused me of indecent behavior and told me to reflect on it. What the f*ck? He should really get a mirror for himself. He accused me of indecent behavior for only chatting with the Junior Martial Sister. He should look at the way he ogled at her. That f*cker was almost drooling!”

“What about this Senior Martial Brother?”

“Well, he’s just a blockhead. The other disciples from the same batch who joined the sect with him were talking about giving that Huo guy twenty taels of silver each but he refused to give even a copper coin. In the end, his overweening attitude got him assigned here by Bastard Huo!”

“That’s twenty taels of silver we are talking about, I’m not that rich! Besides, I’ve come to the Divine Sword Sect to learn abilities, not to learn how to flatter anyone. There’s no way I’m giving him anything even if I have the money. What can he possibly do to me?” The short and well-built youth huffed with a look of defiance on his face.

It seemed like those who had the same misfortune would sympathize with each other. Yan Liqiang laughed. “I am Yan Liqiang. What are your names, Senior Martial Brothers?”

“I am Gu Zexuan...” The fair youth introduced himself, then pointed to the person beside him. “He is Zhao Huipeng. He doesn’t speak much, but he likes to listen. If you are with him and you realize that he hasn’t spoken to you for a few hours, please don’t misunderstand. It isn’t like he has something against you. That’s just how he is...”

“Yup...” Zhao Huipeng gave a word of acknowledgement and didn’t say anything else.

“Oh right, Senior Martial Brother told me that it has been a long time since anyone lived here. Does that mean the toilets on Tianqiao Peak haven’t been cleaned for a long time?”

“How could that possibly be?” Gu Zexuan laughed. “Most of the time, the external disciples will take turns doing this kind of job so it’s kind of like a temporary task assigned by drawing lots. The longest period is usually only seven days while the shortest is three days. Since it’s just a temporary job, the external disciples who have to take on this task usually won’t move all the way here. There are a lot of external disciples in the Divine Sword Sect. Even if a different person is assigned the job for one day, many won’t even get their turn in several years. That Bastard Huo and the other servants don’t dare to offend some external disciples from clans with certain backgrounds, so they will never be assigned this type of dirty and tiring job either!”

“So who stayed in my house before?”

“I heard that it was a very old Senior Martial Brother who stayed in your house in the earliest days. He violated some sect rules a long time ago, causing his cultivation to be stripped away from him. He was imprisoned in the Divine Sword Sect for seventy or eighty years, only to be released when he was old and still an external disciple. Upon his release, that Senior Martial Brother moved into your current place and was responsible for cleaning the toilets on Tianqiao Peak every day. The house was left empty after that Senior Martial Brother passed away from old age until a few years ago when another Senior Martial Brother who had just joined the sect seemed to have also offended someone and was assigned here too. That guy stayed here to clean toilets for nearly five years until a year ago. He advanced as a Supreme Martial Warrior, rose above the external disciple rank, and finally moved away! Tiaoqiao 3 is not a good place...”

“I see!” Yan Liqiang finally clicked. This kind of thing wasn’t something he could understand a few days ago in the Commandment Courtyard.

Speaking to this point, Gu Zexuan looked at Yan Liqiang. The tone of his voiced turned sincere and earnest. “Junior Martial Brother, I’d advise you to find an opportunity to give that Huo guy some money if you can afford to. Give in to him and say something nice to him. That way, you’d be able to rid yourself of this job sooner. Otherwise, you won’t be left with much time to cultivate since you will be hanging out around the toilets every day here. It’s going to be hard for you to improve. A few years of setbacks will greatly impact your future prospects in the Divine Sword Sect and cause you to miss out on a lot of opportunities. It’s really not worth it...”

“Why didn’t Senior Martial Brother Gu submit to that Servant Huo?”

“Hmph, even if my clan isn’t some wealthy and influential great clan, my clan has quite a reputation! A few seniors in my clan hold certain authority within the military. That Huo guy knew of my background so he didn’t dare to overstep his boundary in delaying my future prospects. I won’t be staying here too long. I will leave in just a few months or more at most. As long as I don’t lower my head, there’s no way that Huo guy can press me down forever.”

Yan Liqiang smiled. “To be honest, I’m in a similar situation as Senior Martial Brother Zhao Huipeng. I’m pretty poor too. All I have is only a few taels of silver in my pockets. Even if I wanted to give money to that Huo guy, I couldn’t possibly offer anything. Although cleaning toilets may be a little dirty and tiring, it’s nothing to be ashamed about. I actually want to test myself to see if I can do this job well and take it as an opportunity to train myself.”

“Brother, that’s so impressive!” Gu Zexuan gave Yan Liqiang a thumbs up with a look of disbelief on his face. “I’ll be convinced if you can still think the same way after two months...”

Affinity played a role in the relationship between humans. When Yan Liqiang first joined the Divine Sword Sect, out of the four he became acquainted with in Commandment Courtyard, that Ma Liang already saw him as an eyesore the moment he stepped inside. The other three were quite indifferent towards him. Apart from knowing each other’s names, they basically didn’t interact much with one another.

Ma Liang and the other three came from different Divine Sword Sect branches in different provinces. They were accepted to sect’s main branch due to their exceptional performance or various reasons. Yet, Yan Liqiang immediately joined them the moment he got into the Divine Sword Sect. In addition to Yan Liqiang being younger in age, he pretty much didn’t have many common topics to share with them. The topic the few of them talked about the most together was their experiences back in their respective provincial branches. Yan Liqiang didn’t have such an experience and thus he was naturally excluded by the rest when the conversation became lively.

However, Yan Liqiang already become close with both Gu Zexuan and Zhao Huipeng though he had only arrived at the foot of Tianqiao Peak for a day.

That was because there was someone whom they could curse at together– Huo Bin, and they also shared the same experience of being persecuted. Therefore, the three of them very quickly got along well together.

But of course, Gu Zexuan and Zhao Huipeng were not the only ones doing the odd jobs in this mountain basin at the foot of Tianqiao Peak. There were a few other external disciples in their fifties or sixties who had been farming here over the long-term. They were imprisoned for a few decades for violating the sect’s commandments and got their cultivation stripped away from them. They weren’t released until they were old in age and were abandoned here by the Divine Sword Sect. All they did was farm all day long. The nice way of putting this into words was ‘to let them enjoy their remaining days instead of dying of old age in prison’. To put it bluntly, they were left to perish on their own, bound to the Divine Sword Sect until their deaths.

Although they were still wearing the gray clothes like any other external disciple, these people were ripe in age and were unable to cultivate martial arts anymore. The current life they led was no different than old farmers in the mountains. The mountain basin, vegetable fields, and orchards before Yan Liqiang’s eyes consisted of their world.

Apart from those old men, many other external disciples would usually also be arranged to take on some temporary odd jobs here, such as plowing the fields, plowing the fields, fertilizing the soil, watering, weeding, harvesting, fruit-picking, and planting vegetables. These farm activities could be as long as short as a day or two, and three to five days at most. To the disciples of the Divine Sword Sect, doing this kind of odd job would allow them to gain some field experience and gain some knowledge so that they wouldn’t become idiots without any common sense or physical capabilities.

There were only three people like Yan Liqiang, Gu Zexuan, and Zhao Huipeng who were thrown in here for the long-term in all of Tianqiao Peak.

After Yan Liqiang was busy for the entire morning, he had finally tidied up the house he was going to stay in. At noon, he ran over to one of the marketplaces in the Divine Sword Sect and bought a few more sets of gray clothes that the external disciples wore for himself. He also purchased some cheap cotton fabrics, linen, needles and threads, scissors, a towel, a porcelain cup, salt, a toothbrush, and other daily necessities...

Yan Liqiang also bought a small clock that could be used to keep track of time and this clock was the most expensive purchase, costing Yan Liqiang more than two taels of silver. After buying all the necessities, Yan Liqiang was only left with less than a tael of silver.

Although the rules in the Divine Sword Sect were strict, they weren’t inflexible or rigid. This place was also a small community. Here, apart from the most basic two sets of gray clothes, an identity pass, free accommodation, and two daily free meals, the external disciples would have to settle and prepare everything else for themselves. If they didn’t have anything, then they’d have to fish out their own money and buy them in the marketplace.

The external, inner, and elite disciples of the Divine Sword Sect were not given any subsidies or income. Situations where one got to study the secret martial techniques of the Divine Sword Sect while freeloading and being sponsored by the sect would never happen in this world unless they attained the direct disciple rank. Only when they had made enough contributions towards the sect would they be eligible to receive a monthly payment of ten taels of silver from the sect. If they could advance their rank to become a core disciple, then they would be paid thirty taels of silver.

Therefore, except for those disciples who originated from wealthy and great clans without any financial burdens, most of the disciples in the Divine Sword Sect had to cultivate in the sect and think of a way to earn money at the same time. If you had no money, you’d find yourself facing difficult situations in the sect.

This was also the reason behind Servant Huo’s obsession with money from Gray Hall.

After he purchased the items, Yan Liqiang seized the time he had to make a face mask, a kerchief, two pairs of gloves, two arm sleeves, and two overalls with the fabric he bought and his clumsy needlework. Fortunately, he possessed a decent painting skill. To make those items, he only needed to spread the fabric out on the table and draw vague outlines on them with charcoal coal. After cutting things up according to the outline and sewing the cutouts together, they were basically ready for use.

That night, Yan Liqiang retired earlier than usual to bed. He glanced at the clock. When it was almost nine o’clock at night, he fell asleep.

On the very next day, Yan Liqiang got up before four at dawn. After he swiftly washed up and before he even cultivated Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing, he took the items he had prepared and went downstairs. He then picked up two wooden buckets which were filled with cleaning tools and left the small courtyard.

Stars filled the skies outside. Only the buzzing of insects and croaking of frogs could be heard in the mountain basin. Even people who practiced martial arts in the morning hadn’t woken up yet. The mountain path of the entire Divine Sword Sect was silent.

Holding his stuff, Yan Liqiang ran swiftly towards Tianqiao Peak.

When he had only run halfway there, a cold voice traveled to Yan Liqiang’s ears. “Hold it right there! Who are you?”

Following the cold shout was a figure who suddenly leaped off from a big tree by the road like a flying panther. With a whoosh, he stood before Yan Liqiang with the tip of his sword pointed at him.

The person who landed before Yan Liqiang was about twenty years old. He had a rather heroic appearance and was dressed in black swordsman attire which signified that he was an inner disciple. His gaze was aimed at Yan Liqiang.

Yan Liqiang was startled the moment this person landed. However, Yan Liqiang let out a sigh of relief upon getting a clearer view of this person’s attire. He identified this person as one of the disciples who was on night duty as a sentinel on Tianqiao Peak.

“Senior Martial Brother, I am just a servant disciple who is on my way to clean the toilets on Tianqiao Peak.”

“You said you are a servant disciple, but where’s your waist tag?” That person didn’t relax even for a bit and kept staring at Yan Liqiang.

“The waist tag is stashed away in my chest. I’ll show it to you!”

The person coldly said, “Do not use your right hand, use your left. Slow down, don’t give me any wrong impressions or else, the sword in my hand might slip...”

Yan Liqiang didn’t expect this person to be this prudent so he didn’t dare to joke around anymore. With his left hand, he slowly fished out his waist tag. The person got a clear view of it under the moonlight. Yan Liqiang only put his waist tag away when he saw the person sheath his longsword back in his scabbard.

The person glanced at the various cleaning tools Yan Liqiang was holding and frowned. “Why are you here to clean so early?”

Yan Liqiang smiled. “I have just joined the Divine Sword Sect and this is my first time doing this kind of job. I fear I cannot do a good job and I do not want to displease every Senior Martial Brother on Tianqiao Peak, so I came earlier to have more time to clean and strive for cleaning the toilets better!”

That person’s expression instantly relaxed. “Alright, you may go!”

“Thank you, Senior Martial Brother!”

Yan Liqiang went past the sentinel on duty and quickly continued making his way towards Tianqiao Peak. That person silently watched Yan Liqiang’s retreating figure. Then with a flash, leaped onto the big tree beside him.

Tianqiao Peak wasn’t really a tall mountain. It was only about 500 meters from the ground to the summit. He only needed to walk about two li on the mountain path to reach the toilets which were located in the bamboo forest, outside Tianqiao Hall at the summit. Fortunately, there weren’t any women on Tianqiao Peak. Therefore, these toilets were only used by the male population on Tianqiao Peak. The toilets were public, very spacious, and attentively designed. For a sect of such caliber like the Divine Sword Sect, they naturally wouldn’t be stingy when it came to things like this. The interior of the toilets was paved with white marble. There were two urinal troughs and about thirty squat toilets. Every squat toilet was surrounded by wooden partitions and a door.

Naturally, the air in the toilets couldn’t be considered as good, and it was no doubt smelly in there.

There were two huge water jars in the toilet, but the water level was almost at the bottom. There wasn’t much water left.

After seeing the state of the toilets, Yan Liqiang set his tools down in the bamboo forest outside the toilets. He then picked up the two wooden buckets and ran down the mountain to fetch two buckets of water from the stream at the foot of the mountain. He then lifted the water buckets, turned around, and ran back up the mountain.

While running, Yan Liqiang also cultivated his ‘Nine Palace Wind Shadow Steps’. Since the mountain path was craggy and he was lifting two buckets of water, it was a good opportunity to practice the ‘Nine Palace Wind Shadow Steps’. The objective was to quickly deliver the two buckets of water onto the mountain with minimal spillage. This tested Yan Liqiang’s coordination of his body technique, footwork, vision, arm strength, and willpower.

During his first trip up the mountain, Yan Liqiang tripped over a step around the area with very low visibility due to the tree shadows. A good amount of water spilled out from his buckets. In addition to how bumpy the road was, the bucket was already half empty by the time he reached the top of the mountain to transfer the two buckets of water into the two jars outside the toilets.

After his first trip, Yan Liqiang ran down the mountain again. During his second trip, he felt that the two buckets of water were lighter this time around. On his way back, he recalled how those martial monks from the Shaolin Temple carried water in the films he had watched in his previous life. Hence, he immediately straightened his arms to lift the two buckets on the same level, then he dashed up the mountain...

The moment he straightened his arms, the weight of the two buckets of water instantly grew a few times heavier. Since his arms were straight and the water buckets were lifted high, it was even easier to spill the water if his body and pace were unstable during his run.

Thus, the amount of water Yan Liqiang delivered during his second trip actually ended up being considerably less than his first trip.

After transferring the little amount of water left in the buckets into the water jar, Yan Liqiang continued running down the mountain once again without a word...

It took Yan Liqiang about an hour to make more than ten trips up and down the mountain to fill those two jars of water in the toilet to their brims.

Over the past hour, he had spilled quite a lot of water on the mountain path. Since Yan Liqiang had lifted those buckets of water up the mountain with his arms straight, the muscles and tendons on either side underneath his armpits were burning; they were sore and painful despite the fact that he had passed the Horse Stance stage and cultivated Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing. He could barely even lift his arms.

Upon seeing the two water jars filled to their brims, Yan Liqiang didn’t rest for even a moment. He immediately wore his face mask, gloves, kerchief, and put on the overall he had sewn for himself. With a pile of tools, he started to clean the toilets with utmost effort.

He swept the floor first before he washed it with water. He then applied some force on his brush to scrub before he finally washed it with water again. Then he scrubbed again...

Yan Liqiang took this extremely seriously. He went through every nook and cranny and he did not miss even a speck of dust. He cleaned the place as best as he could.

Servant Huo from Gray Hall probably thought that assigning Yan Liqiang to clean the toilets here was a punishment for him, but little did he know in Yan Liqiang’s previous life, the people who inspired Yan Liqiang to further his career were actually two individuals with stories related to toilets.

Many probably heard of Seiko Noda’s story. Seiko Noda’s first job upon graduating from university was a bathroom janitor in a hotel. Yet in the end, she was appointed as the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications for Japan at the age of thirty-seven. The turning point in her life and destiny started from a toilet. The tale of a person who dared to actually drink from the toilet she had cleaned herself was actually her.

The second toilet-related inspiring figure to Yan Liqiang was Hans Wall, the founder of Wall AG company in Germany. Was it possible for a person to earn money by managing free, public toilets? Prior to Hans Wall’s achievement, no one in the world would probably expect that managing a free-of-charge public toilet could generate any profit. Yet, Hans Wall proved everyone wrong. This was the person who had changed everyone’s mindsets about seeing public toilets as dirty and messy places. The public toilets he operated were all ingenious works of art which showed great creativity. They became advertising platforms that famous international brands and luxury brands would fight over for space, thus easily generating an annual profit of 300 million dollars.

Ever since Yan Liqiang heard about the tales of Seiko Noda and Hans Wall who did things to the very best of their abilities, their stories shook Yan Liqiang to his very core and had a long-lasting impact on Yan Liqiang. The success in the later stage of his career was all thanks to the inspiration he had drawn from their spirits.

Both of them made Yan Liqiang understand one of the most important principles of life– the success of a person hinged not on their job but on their performance. Oftentimes, the former might be beyond most people’s control and destiny might just sneer at you in your face. However, everyone had control over the latter in their hands. Even if it was cleaning toilets, if one could clean the toilet so well that one could scoop the water out from the bowl and drink it with no shame, then destiny’s sneer would surely turn into a smile; a broad and hearty one at that. When that happened, one would be able to grasp the uncertainty of the future in their hands.

An uneducated woman from a poor family who could only make salted vegetables could end up becoming The Godmother [1]!

A man from a royal family with the most affluent empire in the world and millions of people in it might just become Emperor Huizong of Song [2] in the end!

The Godmother and Emperor Huizong of Song, who was the more successful individual?

Therefore, a person’s job was not important. The truly important thing was how you did it. Regardless of how lowly and boring a job may be, if you handle a job to the point where everyone would admire and respect you, then you would be successful, even if you weren’t striving for that. This was how one should set the course of their destiny in the right direction.

Yan Liqiang planned to set the course of his destiny in the Divine Sword Sect within these toilets on Tianqiao Peak!

...

By the time Yan Liqiang finished cleaning the entire toilet area before daybreak, he was completely drenched in sweat and feeling a little exhausted. When he was about to leave, he even wiped away his footprints with a linen cloth, leaving no trace at all.

When Yan Liqiang left Tianqiao Peak with his tools, he could feel his footsteps becoming lighter. This job, where he had to work for a few hours continuously like a robot, was indeed more tiring than the average person’s job for a day. Yan Liqiang was probably the only person who could turn a toilet cleaning job into an intense physical work activity.

...

When Yan Liqiang returned to the mountain basin at the foot of Tianqiao Peak, Gu Zexuan and Zhao Huipeng were practicing their fist techniques and training their bodies in the ‘Tianqiao 2’ courtyard they stayed in. Both of them instantly stopped when they saw Yan Liqiang return with his tools as he passed by the path outside their courtyard, looking exhausted.

“Hey, Liqiang. Don’t tell me you have already finished cleaning the toilets on Tianqiao Peak.” Gu Zexuan approached the fence of their small courtyard and looked at Yan Liqiang curiously. “A moment ago, I was just asking Zhao Huipeng why you weren’t awake to practice yet. It seems like you already left long ago...”

“Yes, I just finished cleaning...”

“This early?! What time did you go?”

“About four in the morning...”

Gu Zexuan’s jaw dropped at his response. “That early?! It’s not like there are any rules stating that the toilets on Tianqiao Peak have to be cleaned this early. Isn’t it fine as long as you get it done before noon? As long as no one tells on you at Gray Hall, you should be fine... ”

“Haha, I’ll have a peace of mind the sooner I finish cleaning them so that I can squeeze out some time later in the day to do something else!” Yan Liqiang smiled and waved at Gu Zexuan. “I’m all sweaty so I’ll go take a bath first and get a fresh change of clothes...”

Not far from Yan Liqiang’s courtyard were a clear small stream and a small lake which were convenient places for a bath. Although the water was quite cold, Yan Liqiang’s body was able to withstand it.

...

Just as Yan Liqiang returned to the mountain basin, someone on Tianqiao Peak arrived at the toilet that Yan Liqiang had just cleaned. The moment he went in, his eyes widened in surprise. The entire toilet had suddenly turned extremely shiny and clean overnight. It was so outrageously clean that it wasn’t even smelly in the slightest.

The person hesitated for a moment. He’d feel extremely bad, or even guilty, if he destroyed such a clean and neat environment. Someone must have spent a lot of energy to clean this toilet so flawlessly. Could it be that the Sect Master and the other Elders were coming to Tianqiao Peak for an inspection...? That person secretly wondered while standing at the toilet entrance, struggling to decide whether or not he should enter...

Shortly later, a few others also came. Like the first person, they were also stunned by the sight of the toilet which was so clean that it was brand new. Some of them were stupefied and started to hesitate at the entrance.

“What are you guys hesitating about?” Just when the few of them were wondering if they should enter or not, a cold shout came from behind them. The few disciples on Tianqiao Peak who were gathered at the toilet entrance secretly winced upon hearing the voice.

A bald but bearded man who appeared to be in his fifties came over with his eyes wide like saucers. He was dressed in a casual yellowish-brown gown, with half of his tummy jutting out and exposed to the air. “Are you guys too free? If you are, then go to the cave down there and make a few hundred more jin of Pear Blossom Steel for me...”

“Hall Master, well... is the Sect Master or the Elders coming to Tianqiao Peak today for an inspection?” One of the guys who stood at the toilet entrance asked with a smile on his face.

“Nonsense!” The bald man immediately exploded, spraying his spittle on their faces. “If the Sect Master and Elders were coming, why wouldn’t I know about it? Sun Weizhen, what are you blabbering about?”

“Look at this then, Hall Master. I remember when Elder Gao came to visit Tianqiao Peak, he beat us up and told us that even though only men live on Tianqiao Peak, we shouldn’t be too sloppy either. Elder Gao also mentioned that he will check on us again next time...”

The few of them stepped out of the way and let the bald man enter the toilet. The moment he saw the state of the toilet, the bald man was also stunned for a good few seconds. He then came back to his senses and waved his hands. “Don’t worry, the Sect Master and Elders aren’t coming in for an inspection today. The person who is responsible for cleaning today must have come in earlier and cleaned a little extra cleaner. Stop making a fuss over nothing. Just use it as how you would...”

After finishing his sentence, that man went in first. The other disciples outside the bathroom looked at him and followed suit...

Yan Liqiang wrapped up his morning tasks by taking a clean bath in the lake and putting on a fresh change of clothes, washing the clothes, gloves, and other things he had worn to clean the toilets, and dried them.

He wasn’t particularly a germaphobe. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to take on this assignment. However, the clothes he wore earlier reeked of some odor after he cleaned the toilets. Yan Liqiang didn’t want to be ‘viewed in a new light’ wherever he went, so he naturally wanted to change into a new set of clean clothes. This was also the reason why Yan Liqiang had prepared a few sets of clothes for himself.

“Brother Liqiang, catch!” When Yan Liqiang had just finished drying his clothes, Gu Zexuan and Zhao Huipeng came over to his courtyard while nibbling on their corn. They tossed one of the cobs they had cooked and a boiled egg to Yan Liqiang.

The corn was still a little hot but not scalding to the hands. Yan Liqiang caught the corn and as soon as he peeled the leaves, the sweet aroma of corn instantly wafted into his nostrils. After working the entire morning, his tummy had been growling since long ago. Hence, Yan Liqiang who had just received some corn wasn’t shy to start gobbling down his food.

The Divine Sword Sect only provided two meals. For external disciples like Yan Liqiang, those meals merely meant going to a few designated meal collection points at Gray Hall to collect their meals which consisted of nothing but six steamed or salted vegetable buns. The treatment an external disciple received was no different than when they were in the Commandment Courtyard. All the sect had to do was ensure was they were not starved to death.

Yan Liqiang had never tasted salted carrots in his steamed buns before; he experienced it yesterday for the first time in his entire life. The food from Gray Hall could simply be rated as the most exotic.

There weren’t any issues if the external disciples wished to treat themselves to better food. As long as you could afford them, there were luxury restaurants among a few marketplaces which served lavish meals.

The practice of the Divine Sword Sect was to force external disciples to either clench their teeth and bear the hardships, or clench their teeth and work towards becoming stronger so they could break away from the external disciple rank as soon as possible.

In actuality, Gu Zexuan, Yan Liqiang, and the rest weren’t allowed to eat the corn in the fields here as all of the harvests belonged to the sect. But there’s a saying that goes, ‘If there’s a will, there’s a way’. After Gu Zexuan offered some silver to a few of the older residents here, he usually bought some eggs from the old men to boil and eat them, but the few chickens here were considered to be private property reared by the same bunch of old men. The old men just pretended they didn’t see anyone picking a few corn cobs from the fields and conveniently cooking them with the eggs.

“How did it go? Is your work easy to do? Just let us know if you need help. Zhao Huipeng and I are willing to help you out.” Gu Zexuan told Yan Liqiang while nibbling his corn.

“It’s not that bad, there’s no need to trouble both of you. It may be a little tough, but I can do it alone.”

Yan Liqiang wasn’t sure if he was famished or if he had gotten too sick of eating steamed buns these days, but the corn he was eating right now that was only boiled with plain water had an exquisite sweet taste to it.

“Your speed in cleaning the toilets is pretty fast. Some of the external disciples who came to Tianqiao Peak to clean the toilets in the past took half a day to carry the water from the foot of the mountain up there, let alone the rest...”

“Perhaps there were more people on Tianqiao Peak’s mountain path in the morning so it took a little longer to get the water up there. I went before the sun rose and ran while carrying the water since there was no one else on the mountain path, so it was faster!” Yan Liqiang humbly answered. However, the current physical strength and stamina of his body were incomparable to those ordinary external disciples. He could complete the process of lifting water alone a few hours less than other the other disciples, which significantly reduced the time it took for him to complete his work.

“Haha, seems like Brother Liqiang will have your entire morning freed up to properly cultivate. Seize the opportunity to advance as soon as you can to spite that Huo guy!”

“I have no idea when I can advance either. I have only passed the Horse Stance stage. There’s still a long way before I can advance as a Martial Warrior, let alone Supreme Martial Warrior!”

“Don’t worry too much. You can’t rush into things like cultivation, just take it slow and steady. As long as you persevere, success will follow naturally when the conditions are right. But bear in mind that there’s one thing you mustn’t take slow– earning money!” Gu Zexuan sighed. “Without money, life is tough in the Divine Sword Sect before can you attain the direct disciple rank. Even enjoying a meal would be a problem. Although my clan isn’t that poor, I can’t have my clan send someone to deliver money to me forever. A man should stand on his own feet out here. Do you have any ideas on how to earn money, Brother? If you do, we can do it together. After all, it’s always easier to do that with three people rather than just one. We all pitch in whatever we can offer, be it money, ideas or efforts. Let’s see if we can find a way to earn money...”

“What have Senior Martial Brothers done before to earn money? Let’s hear it!”

“Well... My clan was involved in stonemasonry before. A few months ago, Senior Martial Brother Gu bought me some tools and the both of us tried to create a few mortars and pestles for crushing medicinal herbs to sell at the marketplace. But none of them were sold...” Zhao Huipeng blushed and explained in embarrassment.

“Sigh, let’s not bring that up. Everything’s great at home but not when you are outside. Brother, you saw it too when you went to shop at the marketplace yesterday. Whatever that can bring in money has already been done by someone, and even the ones that cannot bring in money has already been done by the others. It’s definitely not easy to find ways to earn money without impacting our cultivation...”

An idea suddenly popped up in Yan Liqiang’s mind. Although Yan Liqiang had done his very best in cleaning the toilets today, there was still something he was unsatisfied with– he wasn’t able to completely get rid of the odor in there even after he had done the cleaning. When he was bathing, he kept pondering about how to perfectly carry out this task. There were already a few plans brewing in his mind. It just so happened that when Gu Zexuan mentioned making money, he immediately recalled one of the easiest plans that they might as well give a try.

“Well... I have a plan, but I am not sure if it will be successful!”

“Let’s hear it then!” Gu Zexuan’s interest was instantly piqued.

“I also thought of this idea when I was cleaning the toilets today. Hmm... My grandfather used to be a wandering physician. He knew of a way to dispel the odor in toilets. Senior Martial Brother Gu, if we can create something that can dispel or significantly reduce the odor in toilets, do you think it will be a hit?”

“Are you talking about perfume sachets? But those already existed long ago.”

“Not perfume sachets. Those sachets will only cover up the odor in the toilets instead of getting rid of it. I am talking about something else...”

“Then is this thing you are talking about that’s easy to make? How much silver do we need to invest to see the result?”

“It’s very easy to make. If you are asking about investment, then probably a few candareens of silver would do. We can make one sample batch to try first...”

“Just a few candareens of silver?!” Gu Zexuan’s eyes widened like saucers. “That cheap?!”

“It doesn’t cost a lot to make them, but it’s a little time-consuming. If we start making them now, we will have the finished products in about two or three months!”

“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s do it!” Gu Zexuan immediately slapped his own thighs and yelled enthusiastically. “It’s just a few candareens of silver which hardly worth anything. It will be gone right after a good meal. But this is a long-term business investment we are talking about here. It definitely worth a try! How about this– since this is your idea, Zhao Huipeng and I will contribute in terms of money and effort. You’ll just have to tell us what to do and we will do it for you. If these things can be sold for money, we’ll let you have half of the profit while Zhao Huipeng and I will share the remaining half. Sound good?”

“Sure, that’s settled then!” Yan Liqiang smiled.

Gu Zexuan and Zhao Huipeng were both quite excited and were eager to get started. “Brother, tell us what are the necessary ingredients to make this thing you speak of?”

“We need a few huge clay jars used for marinating salted vegetables...”

“Huge gray jars for marinating salted vegetables?” Gu Zexuan was a little dumbfounded. “Alright, I will go buy them...” He then agreed without any questions.

When the sun was about to set, about ten huge clay jars were placed by the mud brick wall below the wooden hut that Yan Liqiang stayed in. The grayish-brown clay jars were arranged neatly into multiple rows and stored downstairs.

After Gu Zexuan and Yan Liqiang carried the final clay jar with its contents over and placed it down, Gu Zexuan wiped the sheen of sweat on his forehead and finally exhaled. “We’re finally done with this goddamn thing...”

Yan Liqiang, who had been working the whole day, was also exhausted and sweating along with Gu Zexuan and Zhao Huipeng.

Gu Zexuan and Zhao Huipeng’s task for today was to remove the stalks of the corn they had harvested yesterday from the cornfield. After Gu Zexuan bought these huge clay jars, Yan Liqiang followed both of them to the field and started working.

Under Yan Liqiang’s instructions, the three of them first pulled the corn stalks out from the ground. Next, they crushed those freshly collected corn stalks with mortars and pestles to extract the sweet juice from those stalks. Then they poured about ten jin of juice which contained extremely high sugar levels into each of those huge clay jars before adding plain water into them. More corn stalks, carrot skins, and other things like rotten vegetables were chopped and then mixed into all the clay jars as they were left to sit in there with the liquid mixture. The clay jars were then finally covered with their lids and moved to a place in the courtyard where they could easily catch some sunlight. That was all there was to do.

Though it sounded easy, the process was quite difficult, especially squeezing the juice out of those corn stalks. It really tested one’s patience.

“Um... what is the end product called?” Zhao Huipeng asked Yan Liqiang.

Throughout the process, Yan Liqiang didn’t conceal anything from the both of them. He allowed them both to participate in it and it was precisely after participating in the activities that Zhao Huipeng found something strange. He realized that this thing Yan Liqiang was making didn’t seem like salted vegetables or vinegar. They didn’t know the name of it either.

“This thing is called earth vinegar!” Yan Liqiang explained with a serious tone. He contemplated in his mind and gave this thing a new name which would easily roll off the tongues of the people in this world. Yan Liqiang was an environmentalist in his previous life. Naturally, making this kind of thing was no challenge for him.

“Earth vinegar?” Gu Zexuan and Zhao Huipeng looked at each other. Both of them had never heard of this name before.

“Yes, it’s called earth vinegar!” Yan Liqiang nodded seriously. “My grandfather named it. It’s something he discovered by chance when he was brewing decoctions. Earth vinegar can’t be consumed by humans, but it has exceptional effects when used for cleaning. Apart from dispeling odors, doing laundry and washing the dishes can result in better cleanliness if some is added during the process. They can also be added to plants by diluting water in it and then be administered to plants as fertilizer. The yielded effects are quite good! Originally, making this actually requires brown sugar, but since sugar is too expensive and those corn stalks contain very high amounts of sugar, they can be juiced as a substitute for the brown sugar...”

“Oh, I see. Brother Liqiang, your knowledge is impressive!” Gu Zexuan rubbed his palms in excitement. “If this thing is truly so multi-functional, then we have nothing much to worry about in selling these. We’ve probably found a way to earn money!”

“Well, even if this can really sell well, we won’t be earning much. But at least it will allow us to earn a small amount of money over a short period of time. As time passes, given the simplicity of making this, people will eventually learn how to make it. When everyone learns how to easily make these, the ones we make won’t be special anymore!”

“Let’s not worry about it. As long as the three of us keep this a secret and not expose the method of making this thing, we can buy as much time as possible...”

“Yes. The only thing we need to pay attention to is these clay jars that we need to uncover to allow some air into them. Also, don’t let this ring of water outside the lid dry up...”

“Can we talk about something else? We should eat first. I’m really starving...” Zhao Huipeng rubbed his stomach and complained miserably.

“Hahaha, let’s eat then!” Yan Liqiang and Gu Zexuan both laughed.

The relationship of this trio who had just become acquainted with each other yesterday had grown significantly closer again after their cooperation today. The mutual trust and understanding between them had also increased.

Dinner was simple as usual– apart from the steamed buns, there were also corn and eggs. Even so, Yan Liqiang still relished his meal.

After dinner, Yan Liqiang chatted for a while longer with Gu Zexuan and Zhao Huipeng. They and took a few minutes to walk together to digest their food. Yan Liqiang was back in his bedroom before the sun had even set and started cultivating Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing. After two rounds, he immediately hit the sack.

...

The next day, Yan Liqiang woke up around three o’clock in the morning as usual. When he was about to get up from bed to wash up, he suddenly recalled something.

When he carried the water yesterday, some sections along the mountain path were dark. Since his eyes couldn’t even clearly see the path, it was easy to stumble and trip over the steps or other things along the way. This caused a considerable amount of water in the buckets to spill out. At the end of that Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing Manual in his mind, there was a section labeled ‘Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing Subsidiary External Cultivation Collection’. This collection section included external techniques like the mind, body, head, face, ears, eyes, mouth, tongue, teeth, hands, feet, shoulders, back, waist, stomach, kidneys, heart, spleen, liver, and lungs. It covered nearly all the methods of training every external and internal organ...

Yan Liqiang had never bothered with the external cultivation collection in the past. He was originally planning to only give those a try when he was almost done with Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing. But a thought suddenly emerged in his mind– should he give the eye external cultivation technique a try and see if it could improve his vision after practicing it?!

With that thought, Yan Liqiang laid on the bed and cultivated according to the instructions of the eye technique. He tightly shut his eyes and started the warm-up for the eye technique by rubbing his eyes with his thumbs fourteen times...

After warming up, the eye technique included various eyeball movements and coordination with the eyes and various acupoints on the head for a massage before finally ending it with the ‘Tiger Vision’ technique. The entire process only took a few minutes to complete.

After Yan Liqiang was done practicing the eye technique, there weren’t really any obvious effects for now. He quickly got up, washed up, tidied up, and ascended Tianqiao Peak to start working.

When Yan Liqiang went up there yesterday, he was intercepted along the way and he was questioned by a Senior Martial Brother who was a sentinel of the Divine Sword Sect. When he went up today, the sentinel hiding in the dark along the pathway didn’t jump out to stop Yan Liqiang.

Everything was the same as yesterday. Yan Liqiang ran down the mountain to fetch water and he carried the water back up to the mountain with his arms straight. When he was running, he also trained his stamina, body technique, and footwork. After he fetched enough water, he started to meticulously and earnestly clean the toilets on Tianqiao Peak with his utmost effort.

He worked until the sky brightened and then descended the mountain. As usual, his entire body was almost drenched in sweat after he reached the foot of the mountain. He then took a bath, changed into fresh clothes, washed his clothes, and ate some food...

However, the difference between today and yesterday was that Yan Liqiang had a lot more time this morning. He was able to cultivate Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing.

Starting from the second day, Yan Liqiang’s daily schedule in the Divine Sword Sect was set with a regular pattern. After meticulously cleaning the toilets every day, he’d spend his remaining time training at the mountain basin. Sometimes, he would also help Gu Zexuan and Zhao Huipeng with their farm work...

Apart from the few disciples who lived in the small mountain basin, almost no one else in the Divine Sword Sect noticed there was another youth by the name of Yan Liqiang living in this mountain basin at the foot of Tianqiao Peak. He trained diligently every day and he always maintained his highest standards even with a dirty and exhausting job like cleaning toilets.

As this dull yet rich life passed by, Yan Liqiang gradually felt the changes in his body too...

The first thing he noticed was that his arms had gained more strength. Initially, after filling the two buckets of water on Tianqiao Peak to their brims with his arms straightened, he still felt the strain in his arms. He felt pain and was sore every day; it was as if his arms were going to break off. However, after only half a month, things started to gradually become easier even if he filled the two tanks of water to their brims with his arms straight. Those full water buckets felt lighter in his hands and he was able to run faster along the mountain path. The time needed to fetch water also became shorter and shorter. Along his way, the amount of water he spilled also became lesser and lesser...

What made Yan Liqiang even more pleasantly surprised was the fact that after he had trained the eye technique in the Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing Manual for more than a month, he realized that he could gradually see the outlines of the steps along the mountain path which had initially been pitch-black in his eyes. The outlines grew clearer with every passing day...

The weather outside the small wooden hut was bleak, with icy winds gusting past. Snowflakes fell from the sky, silvering the Divine Sword Sect with snow. The small valley beneath Tianqiao Peak was also cast into a rare spell of peace and quiet...

The snow had started falling during the day yesterday, lightening towards the twilight hours. However, it started to fall again during the morning today. At twilight, after an entire day of snowfall, the sky grew even more cloudy and the snow fell even harder.

The Divine Sword Sect was located within the boundaries of the Great Han Empire’s Lai Province, towards the south-east area of the empire. Normally, the weather during the year was warm and humid and they had gone through several decades of winter without a single snowfall. However, after only a month into this year for some reason, when it was meant to be a chilly spring, the weather had taken a strange turn and it started snowing instead, becoming even colder than winter.

It was amongst the flurry of heavy snow that Yan Liqiang sat inside his small wooden hut, completely drenched in sweat, skin reddening as if his entire body was on fire. Following his movements, gusts of hot air poured out from the eighty-four thousand sweat glands that covered his body, almost unwittingly lifting the temperature inside the wooden hut by a few degrees as well...

Yan Liqiang had been inside his hut cultivating Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing for the entirety of the afternoon. The first time he started cultivating, it was the same as usual, but from the second time onwards, Yan Liqiang felt that it was different from normal. His body started to warm up – in the beginning, it was just the palms of his hands, the soles of his feet, and the top of his head that felt warmer. Afterwards, those gusts of hot air wove through his entire body: his palms, the soles of his feet, and his head amongst his five cores. They were like five fire dragons that erratically wound themselves along the muscle and bones of his entire body.

That feeling of comfort was incomparable. Yan Liqiang felt like his entire body was submerged in a hot spring. At the same time, with this feeling, Yan Liqiang’s entire body was also sweating buckets: his shirt and trousers had long since been soaked through. He was forced to strip off his shirt, his trousers, and his shoes, leaving him wearing just a pair of shorts as he continued cultivating Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing inside that small hut without pause.

Yan Liqiang felt that this sort of phenomenon was as if his cultivation was finally about to hit a peak and break through the barrier.

Under these circumstances, Yan Liqiang completely forgot about the time as he instinctively allowed his body to continue cultivating Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing again and again.

An indefinite amount of time later, after Yan Liqiang felt those five gusts of hot air pass throughout his body numerous times, they all suddenly gathered at the very base of his spinal cord. Combining into one and together, they started travelling up his spine. His spinal column spasmed – every single vertebra popped off like fireworks. From the bone at the very bottom of his coccyx upwards, each vertebra started making a crackling noise, coming alive. Afterwards, all the joints and ligaments in his body, along with each large tendon, followed suit as they crackled and spasmed.

This type of feeling was both overwhelming and powerful at the same time. While all the joints, ligaments, and large tendons in his body were twitching involuntarily, Yan Liqiang felt as if his entire body had offloaded an extremely heavy burden. This gave him an indescribable, relaxed feeling, especially around each of his joints, ligaments, and tendons. They all suddenly felt alive, like a rusted nail soaked in engine oil, suddenly losing all the rust and becoming smooth like new. The feeling of having his entire body abruptly become nimble was indescribably refreshing.

A ray of red light appeared on Yan Liqiang’s body. In the next moment, a large amount of Spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth appeared next to his body, gathering to form five red curved bows.

Yan Liqiang had no recollection of the breakthrough from last time when he had passed the Horse Stance stage. However, he clearly saw everything this time. Out of the five curved bows, there was one big one and four smaller ones. After orbiting his body a couple of times, those four out of the five bows flew into his legs and arms at the same time. The final bow, which was the bigger one, sank into the middle of his spinal cord.

This was obviously the breakthrough vision of passing the Stretching Tendon and Extending Bone stage. The imagery of this technique was similar to the imagery produced by advancing in the art of archery. But this bow was not the same as the other bows, these five bows were the body bow, the hand bow and the foot bow which meant that the hands and the feet could use the power gathered by the entire body. Having five bows prepared was a must-have for martial practitioners in order to reach a higher martial class and greater combat techniques. Without this sort of foundation, even if a high-level martial combat technique was taught to you, the most you could do was look the part. In a real fight, you’d be exposed, unable to withstand a single blow.

Yan Liqiang was extremely delighted; he didn’t expect to pass the Stretching Tendon and Extending Bone stage. He originally thought that after the stage pass phenomena had vanished, everything would stop. However, what surprised him was that just as the stage pass phenomena for the Stretching Tendon and Extending Bone vanished, that irresistible force was still burning in his spine. Moreover, it rushed brutally towards the dantian and Qihai acupoint like a wild, fiery dragon after weaving around his chest area for a few brief turns.

With a loud whoosh , that fire dragon exploded where Yan Liqiang’s Qihai acupoint was located.

Yan Liqiang instantly felt that a targeted bomb had hit the volcano on top of his Qihai acupoint, causing it to erupt. Before he could even start to understand what had happened, the energy generated from the explosion at his Qihai acupoint shot upwards, passing his chest and his throat as it headed straight for the top of his skull... ...

Yan Liqiang only felt like something had briefly shocked his mind. Following that, he felt as if all the power in his body and all the heat from his Qihai acupoint that had gone up to his skull was sucked away by that something inside his mind.

Before he lost consciousness, Yan Liqiang vaguely seemed to witness that the Spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth had gathered itself again next to his body, forming a strange image of a giant, crude cauldron with four legs. It caged his entire body within itself and then sank into the midst of his dantian Qihai acupoint.

This was the sign success establishing dantian. Could it be that he had passed both the Stretching Tendon and Extending Bone and establishing dantian stages? Was he now a Martial Warrior?

This hard-to-believe idea appeared in Yan Liqiang’s mind. However, following that, without giving him the chance to think about it more or verify it, the heated air that had just appeared from his Qihai acupoint and all the power in his body were suddenly sucked away almost entirely. His vision grayed out and he abruptly fainted.

...

An indefinite amount of time later, Yan Liqiang woke up, finding himself lying on floor of the small wooden hut.

Remembering the way he had just fainted, Yan Liqiang braced himself against the floor, straightened his waist, and then jumped upright in one swift move.

It was just a single movement, but Yan Liqian was already able to feel that his movements were much more agile than normal and it seemed to be easier to exert force. He hurriedly checked his own body and discovered nothing much out of the ordinary. He only had the faintest feeling of something slightly different than usual somewhere in his lower abdomen.

Remembering the strange phenomena that happened right before he passed out, Yan Liqiang gulped and carefully closed his eyes. He directed his consciousness to sink towards the location of his Qihai acupoint on his lower abdomen.

When he previously did this, there was no use as all he could feel was utter darkness. But at this moment, when his consciousness sank into the Qihai acupoint on his lower abdomen, Yan Liqiang felt like he had entered the midst of a hazy blue ruin. Within that ruin, he could see tiny, minuscule red lights spinning silently but steadily, like little lanterns.

The foundation had been established... he had apparently progressed into a Martial Warrior...

Yan Liqiang gaped, eyes were wide and his mouth was open, almost unable to believe what he could feel. He tested it multiple times and found the sight that he could sense and see was exactly like the descriptions he had heard of countless times that described the Martial Warrior realm after establishing the foundation.

Other people would still require a very long time to establish dantian after passing the Stretching Tendon and Extending Bone stage. He had heard from a few of the disciples from the Divine Sword Sect who had exceptional level cultivation speeds that they still needed at least another six to twelve months of cultivation before they could establish dantian and finish the final foundation step. There were even some who couldn’t pass this stage throughout their entire lives, unable to finish the last step before foundation. How could he possibly have passed two stages in succession over the course of one day? That was too outrageous. Who would ever believe him if he said anything?

Yan Liqiang was frozen for quite a while. He did not dare to believe that he had apparently established his foundation and had somehow become a Martial Warrior.

Could this also be a manifestation of how great the Stretching Tendon and Extending Bone technique was? In his mind, Yan Liqiang asked himself this repeatedly as this was the only possible answer.

Remembering that strange devouring power that was in his mind just before he passed out, Yan Liqiang hesitated for a moment and then hurriedly went to check to see if there was anything abnormal in his own mind.

Yan Liqiang saw it...

That caused him to be utterly surprised. The thing that he originally thought he would never see again while he was alive was currently floating inside his mind’s eye and he could now perceive it clearly.

That thing immediately transformed into a star, glittering at him within his mind, giving off a light that was both mysterious and had a hidden depth.

...

It was pitch-black outside the window. After staring intently at that thing inside his mind for a while, Yan Liqiang finally opened his eyes, his heart racing a little.

There was no light in the hut, but Yan Liqiang could still vaguely see the things inside the room with his two eyes. He turned to look towards the water clock within the room and discovered that the water clock was showing past three in the morning. It was getting close to the time when he usually woke up and prepared to go to work.

Seeing the time, Yan Liqiang smoothed out his emotions and hurriedly put on his clothes, socks, and shoes. After cleaning himself up in the room, he picked up a lantern and opened the door...

As soon as Yan Liqiang opened the door, a flurry of snowflakes bound by the icy wind blew straight into his face.

The snow still hadn’t stopped falling, but Yan Liqiang would not let himself stop either. He would not lower the expectations he had for himself.

He packed up the tools he used daily and put some cleaning solution into the bucket. Just as Yan Liqiang was about to walk out of the yard, another lantern along with two familiar silhouettes appeared before him.

Gu Zexuan had wrapped himself firmly – he stamped his feet and breathed warm air into his hands. “Let’s go. All the mountain roads are blocked off by the snow. If we don’t help you with the task today, then you can work until tomorrow evening and you still won’t be done. Zhao Huipeng and I will come with you today to see what the toilets are really like on Tianqiao Peak with our very own eyes. Ah, I never expected the day to come when someone as handsome and charming as myself would have to get up in the middle of the night to clean toilets.”

The slightly inarticulate Zhao Huipeng didn’t say anything. He merely smiled at Yan Liqiang awkwardly.

Yan Liqiang’s heart melted. He didn’t say much else, as it didn’t need to be said. He led the two straight up towards the mountain...

The three of them walked along the mountain path, carrying their lanterns. The surroundings were pitch-black, and the weather was so cold that even the ground was frozen. The steps along the mountain path were almost fully covered in pure white snow, making it basically impossible to discern the shape of the step itself. It was only under the faint yellow light of the lanterns that one could vaguely see a few of the markers for the mountain path. It was extremely hard to move forward; every step taken left an imprint that was half a foot deep in the snow.

The sky was empty of both the stars and the moon, leaving a lead-like layer of clouds. In the forest on either side of the mountain path, there were no sounds from any of the insects. The only thing one could hear was the cold whistle of the wind.

Today’s job was clearly going to be much more difficult than before. Even just bringing water up the mountain was not going to be an easy task.

Yan Liqiang and his two companions had each brought along a farming shovel from their own yard. As they went up the mountain, they shoveled the snow off the mountain path, creating a narrow path that could lead someone up or down the mountain.

Yan Liqiang was at the very front, leading the way. Using his brute strength, he would thrust his shovel deep into the snow and then push sideways with one side of the shovel pressed against the step. Like that, a large pile of snow would be lifted and the snow would fall onto the side of the mountain. With Gu Zexuan and Zhao Huipeng on the sides using their shovels to clear the rest, people would basically be able to walk on that step. Following that, Yan Liqiang would move up another step and they would clear the next step up. The three of them moved upwards, step by step, heading towards the mountain peak.

“Wait til I get famous within the Divine Sword Sect, that Bastard Huo will regret it! I won’t forgive him...” Gu Zexuan cursed under his breath as he worked. “At least you’re good-natured Liqiang, being able to continue doing this for the past few months. If it were me, I don’t think I would last seven days...”

“The mountain path is a little difficult to navigate today, it’s usually not this bad...” Yan Liqiang said calmly as he used his shovel to messily push the snow aside. Since he had just entered the Martial Warrior rank, Yan Liqiang felt like there was an endless amount of strength in his body. The coordination between his body, hands, and eyes was without peer and this task of shoveling snow while they went up the mountain felt as easy and effortless as shoveling leaves. The change he had undergone in a day was exactly like the one he had undergone when he just passed the Horse Stance stage; he wasn’t the same person anymore.

Yan Liqiang’s biggest achievement after these few months of cleaning the toilets was discovering that the so-called cultivation could completely be absorbed into day-to-day life. As long as one had the will, there were all sorts of ways to improve oneself.

For example, his task of bringing water up the mountain. After these few months, Yan Liqiang felt like his strength, reaction time, pacing, and body composition had all improved by a large margin. Both his Nine Palace Wind Shadow Steps and Tiger Roaring Consecutive Fist had improved by another level, and his eyes, hands, legs, and body were even more harmoniously coordinated. Even when he was sweeping out the toilets, Yan Liqiang could, little by little, let go of the anxiety in his heart to become incomparably calm and focused.

This type of work was technically miscellaneous, but Yan Liqiang viewed it as cultivation.

Just like now when Yan Liqiang was shoveling snow, he used the stabbing stance of the spear technique when he pushed his shovel into the snow. When he pushed the snow to the side, he used outward parry stance of the spear technique. These were the three basic moves of the spear technique. As he worked, he could cultivate, and as he cultivated, his heart could be enlightened.

Gu Zexuan and Zhao Huipeng both didn’t find anything strange about Yan Liqiang. They also did not know that after only a day, Yan Liqiang had already become a Martial Warrior. The two of them followed Yan Liqiang, and only felt that Yan Liqiang’s strength at hand was almost extraordinary. Every time he cleared a step, Yan Liqiang’s movements were smooth and sharp, like a free-flowing stream or a floating cloud. There was actually a pleasant sort of rhythm to the entire thing.

Just like this, the three of them shoveled out a path up and down the mountain in the middle of the dark night.

When they arrived at the toilets on the top of the mountain, all three of them all had ice-coated eyelashes. When Gu Zexuan and Zhao Huipeng both saw the toilet, they were completely astonished. This was because that toilet was definitely not the same as they had imagined; it was way too clean. Clean enough that the two of them suspected that maybe someone had already cleaned it.

That toilet was not only clean; it also did not have any strange smells around it.

“Did someone already clean this toilet?” Gu Zexuan looked at Yan Liqiang with surprise. “Did the older martial brothers from Tianqiao Peak take pity on how hard you were working and they cleaned it themselves?”

Yan Liqiang smiled a little. “It has not been cleaned yet!”

“Then why is it so clean?”

“If you want to know why, then come with me down the mountain to get water. I’ll tell you on the way!” Yan Liqiang laughed heartily. He put down the pile of tools he had in his hand and picked up two buckets with a lantern hanging from them before heading down the mountain. Gu Zexuan and Zhao Huipeng followed suit, each with their own bucket in hand.

With Yan Liqiang’s current eyesight, he felt that even without a lantern, he would still be able to see the mountain path clearly. However, since he didn’t want to expose his skills, he would still bring a lantern with him as a tool to keep up the façade, especially if the weather wasn’t good.

“Liqiang, tell me, why is the toilet so clean?” Zhao Huipeng, who rarely ever spoke, asked this curiously after he caught up. Gu Zexuan was also paying attention, wanting to hear Yan Liqiang’s explanation.

“When my grandfather was a wandering physician, he traveled from the north to the south, and he once came across a very interesting situation. He was at a small town and he saw that the inn he was staying at had two different horse carriages parked next to each other. One of the horse carriages was in new condition, clean and tidy, but the other one was a little old, and there was even a hole in the window that hadn’t been repaired...” Yan Liqiang thought for only a brief moment before he explained the classic ‘broken window theory’ [1] from his previous life to Gu Zexuan and Zhao Huipeng using words and examples that they could understand.

After explaining the broken window theory, Yan Liqiang summarized, “Therefore, if I wanted the toilets to be this clean, then the easiest way is for me to make it cleaner than it was before. Then if someone uses the toilet, they will automatically pay attention at all times to not dirty it. If the toilet was originally dirty, then the people who use it won’t even pay attention, not caring if it gets dirtier. This is human psychology...”

Gu Zexuan and Zhao Huipeng thought that Yan Liqiang’s explanation was very interesting and they were enthralled while listening to him, loudly exclaiming their interest. Afterwards, Gu Zexuan clapped his hands together joyfully. “I know now, it’s how the strong grow stronger and the weak get weaker. Is it that sort of philosophy? For strong people like the Divine Sword Sect’s direct and core disciples, they were already like the Seven Heroes and Three Braves. Still, everyone around them are trying to curry favors, offering them the best resources and the best conditions for cultivation, which is why they will naturally grow stronger and stronger. However, for others like us external disciples without any sort of background, we can be put down and trodden upon at anyone else’s whim and therefore, we’ll just get weaker and weaker...”

“Your reasons are sound, but we’re not exactly broken carriages!” Yan Liqiang smiled a little. “If a carriage is broken, then a carriage cannot repair itself and piece the broken parts. We’re people. Therefore, we can constantly strive to be stronger, and strive to improve oneself. Just like how that Huo guy sent me here to clean toilets, if I had bemoaned my fate and did my task perfunctorily to a base standard each day, then the toilets at Tianqiao Peak’s would’ve become the first broken window for me here at the Divine Sword Sect. Seeing this broken window would’ve meant that in the future, anyone would be able to look down on me. But, if I repaired that broken window by using every single resource and all the money I had at my disposal to fix it, then tell me, who would dare to go out of their way and pick on me without any reason?”

“I’m quite amazed by you!” Gu Zexuan sighed. “I never imagined that you would be able to spout so much logic and reasoning over a simple little task like cleaning a toilet. Previously, I wondered why you would put in so much effort into cleaning a toilet, but now I realize that you, Liqiang, have your own way of thinking about things. I feel ignorant...”

Zhao Huipeng glanced at Yan Liqiang with an admiring gleam in both of his eyes, seemingly moved on an emotional level. After Zhao Huipeng heard Yan Liqiang’s words, he felt like his heart had lit up and he felt like he was enlightened all of a sudden.

...

When they came down to the small stream where the water buckets were usually filled, because the stream flowed slowly, there was ice on the surface. Yan Liqiang used a rock to chisel through the ice before they could successfully get the water.

The three of them filled up their buckets and then carried them up the mountain together. Rinsing and repeating...

With the three of them fetching water, it was obviously faster than Yan Liqiang doing it by himself. Within half an hour, after a couple of trips up and down, they had already managed to successfully fill up the water tank for the toilets. And, after only thirty minutes, that tank already had a thin layer of ice that was frozen across the top.

The three of them broke the ice and continued their work.

Even though it was the first time that Gu Zexuan and Zhao Huipeng had come to clean the toilets, the two of them were deeply moved by Yan Liqiang’s story and thus their enthusiasm was at a high as they worked alongside Yan Liqiang. Following Yan Liqiang’s example, they cleaned all the toilets until they sparkled like new, laughing and chatting all the while. Even if all three pairs of hands had been chilled red by the freezing water, no one really cared.

While using the earth vinegar mixed with water to wipe the floor of the toilet, Gu Zexuan said in sudden realization, “Liqiang, I feel like Zhao Huipeng and I both fell for your trap. After we finished mixing that earth vinegar you had us make to remove the strange smells from the toilet, it was only you who ended up using it. We took the earth vinegar to the local market recently and couldn’t sell a single bottle...”

“Hahaha...” Yan Liqiang laughed loudly. “If you want to sell earth vinegar, you’d have to do some advertising for it...”

“Eh, what advertising?”

“It means it needs to be widely publicized. Just wait and see, you can’t rush this...”

...

It was already getting a bit dark once the three of them completely finished cleaning up the toilets and exited the area. However, just as they were walking out, Yan Liqiang found that someone had already been standing outside.

That person was bald, with a full beard across his face and he looked like he was in his fifties. Even though it was a cold day, he didn’t seem cold; he was casually wearing a short shirt with his chest bare outside the toilets. His gaze swept keenly across the three of them as they were walking out before it finally landed on Yan Liqiang’s face, his eyes flashing brightly.

Just when Yan Liqiang was still guessing who this person was, Gu Zexuan’s face had already changed beside him, hurriedly saluting with extreme politeness. “Greetings to Hall Master Su from Gu Zexuan, external disciple....”

Hearing that this person was a Hall Master in the Divine Sword Sect, Yan Liqiang and Zhao Huipeng didn’t dare to tarry, making their salutes as well.

The man smiled a little, looking at Yan Liqiang. “It’s been a full one hundred days since you started cleaning Tianqiao Peak’s toilets, and you haven’t slacked for a single one. Every day, you clean the toilet so very thoroughly. Don’t you feel like it’s a dirty, tiring task?”

“Tianqiao Peak’s older martial brothers aren’t dirty at all in my eyes. Therefore, I don’t feel dirty or tired to be of service to the older martial brothers on the peak. I only want to be able to do what I can do well.” Yan Liqiang said evenly.

“Hahaha, nice choice of words...” Hall Master Su laughed loudly. “From tomorrow onwards, you’ll have a new task. Tianqiao Peak still needs a servant, and that’s you. Go to Gray Hall this afternoon to complete the paperwork...”

“My god! Serving at the Gray Hall, actually being able to serve at the Gray Hall...”

“And to serve within Tianqiao Hall’s Gray Hall, am I dreaming?”

“That’s the Tianqiao Hall, and being handpicked no less by Hall Master Su...”

“Just then, Hall Master Su also paid attention to the earth vinegar that we created...”

On the way down the mountain, Gu Zexuan was having a complete breakdown, mumbling to himself the entire way like a broken record. His steps were light as if he was floating on cloud nine and he didn’t stop repeating those few sentences to himself. Zhao Huipeng though looked sideways at Yan Liqiang and then at Gu Zexuan, standing to one side and laughing as he scratched his head.

Even though Yan Liqiang was already prepared to clean the toilets on Tianqiao Peak long term, but, he still didn’t expect that after over three months of doing this job, at exactly one hundred days, his first job with the Divine Sword Sect concluded in a rather spectacular fashion, drawing to a close.

One hundred days wasn’t long but nor was it short, it was just that today when Hall Master Su recounted the exact number of days, it meant that from the very first day, Hall Master Su had already been silently paying attention to him.

At this time, Yan Liqiang congratulated himself on being careful and conscientious every single day of the past hundred days, for being meticulous and not relaxing even half a requirement. He had done everything possible every day to clean that toilet on Tianqiao peak until it was sparkling clean and there were no faults to be found.

On the day he had finished making the earth vinegar, a few days back, he had immediately used it. After using the vinegar, the cleanliness standard of the toilet on Tianqiao Peak had immediately risen a rank and then after Yan Liqiang had finished cleaning, all the strange smells in the toilet seemingly vanished.

And then on nights like tonight, when the snow was falling thick and fast and the floor was frozen over, Yan Liqiang’s tireless perseverance and diligence had finally paid off by bringing him a chance for change.

At this time, Yan Liqiang was also slightly excited internally. He knew that change would have definitely come to pass, but he hadn’t expected that Tianqiao’s Hall Master Su would actually directly come and promote him into service with Tianqiao Hall.

Gu Zexuan had been excited for good reason; within the Divine Sword Sect, only inner disciples normally went into service with the Divine Sword Sect itself. It wasn’t to say that there were no external disciples in service, but they were definitely a rarity. Out of ten thousand external disciples, only five or six would be in service.

Those who were still external disciples when they went into service naturally would have their place and name elevated greatly within the Divine Sword Sect itself. For example, the Seven Heroes and Three Braves whose fame was currently spreading like wildfire throughout the Divine Sword Sect were ones who had gone into service while still being external disciples back in the day, rising up within the ranks of the sect.

Yan Liqiang, having just progressed into a martial warrior yesterday and was now, as of today, going to go into service to the Gray Hall on Tianqiao Peak, felt as if his luck was just about to change for the better.

“Be careful...” When they were almost halfway down the mountain, Gu Zexuan, who had been walking next to Yan Liqiang, slipped on something underfoot and almost fell over. Yan Liqiang hurriedly grabbed him.

Gu Zexuan suddenly seemed to wake from his somewhat dreamlike state. He took Yan Liqiang’s conveniently offered hand and looked at him with warmth in his gaze. He used an overly sweet tone to say, “Brother Liqiang, moving forwards, Huipeng and I will rely on your care. If you’re in service to Tianqiao Hall, then with a simple word, you can transfer the two of us over to Tianqiao Hall to work. That Huo guy from the Gray Hall won’t be able to say a thing. Your brother, I, am almost going moldy planting those vegetables in the gully. And also look at Huipeng, he’s such a good young man and he’s definitely got a good basis for martial cultivation. Liqiang, can you bear to watch as Huipeng’s bright future is held up? Can you bear to watch the two of us eat nothing but plain bread and gnaw radishes all day?”

“Within the Divine Sword Sect, each person in service can choose two followers. If you’re willing, when I go to the Gray Hall, I’ll request for you and Huipeng to come, all for one and one for all...” Yan Liqiang said smiling. This so-called follower was a helper-like position for the person in service. As soon as Yan Liqiang took up service with Tianqiao Hall, then he would have the right to pick two followers. According to the Divine Sword Sect’s rules, as long as they weren’t female disciples, he could pick anyone he liked from the Gray Hall’s disciples.

“Hahaha, good brother...” Gu Zexuan started laughing heartily, slapping Yan Liqiang’s shoulder with force.

“Huipeng, what do you think?” Yan Liqiang asked Zhao Huipeng.

Zhao Huipeng nodded frantically, scratching his head. “Oh... from now on, I have to call you Senior Martial Brother Yan...”

“That’s right, that’s right, from now on we need to call him Senior Martial Brother Yan. In future, we’ll follow Senior Martial Brother Yan...” Gu Zexuan also started referring to him like so, not minding a whit.

The seniority hierarchy within the Divine Sword Sect was sorted first and foremostly by cultivation status and standing, if both status and standing were the same, then seniority would go by age and experience. Gu Zexuan and Zhao Huipeng had both known Yan Liqiang for a few months, but no matter what they were doing, be it making vinegar or just general day-to-day interactions, both of them thought that Yan Liqiang was someone with a strong sense of self. Yan Liqiang was also diligent and hardworking when it came to cultivation and both of them admired him a bit for that under normal circumstances. In addition to that, today, when Yan Liqiang was all of a sudden put into service within Tianqiao Hall, his position was also suddenly quite a bit higher than the two of them. So using senior martial brother to address Yan Liqiang was quite a natural thing to do.

The three of them, in the midst of laughing joyfully in high spirits, went down the mountain......

It was only when they reached that little valley that the sky was slowly brightening. Seeing that Yan Liqiang had stripped off his clothes and jumped straight into the stream to bathe, both Gu Zexuan and Zhao Huipeng also followed suit, stripping naked and jumping in.

It was only when he hit the water that Gu Zexuan felt the cold, yelling out loudly. He wanted to climb out but was held back by Yan Liqiang and Zhao Huipeng and in the end, he could only clench his teeth and bear it, bathing in the cold water with both Yan Liqiang and Zhao Huipeng.

On a snow-swept day, the sound of cheerful laughter and chatter filled the little valley beneath Tianqiao Peak.

...

After finishing the bath, they then washed and cleaned their clothes before roasting a few sweet potatoes and eggs to eat. They cleaned up their living areas, got ready some things in preparation to move. Then, when it became afternoon and the snow stopped, the three of them directly went to the Gray Hall to do their paperwork, all in high spirits.

Walking down from Tianqiao Peak towards the Gray Hall, along the way, they passed many external disciples in gray clearing away the snow lining the path.

It was quite a coincidence that when Yan Liqiang and company just arrived outside the Gray Hall, Ma Liang, who they hadn’t seen for a few months, walked up from another path. The four of them met up in this fashion outside the Gray Hall.

Seeing Yan Liqiang, Ma Liang’s face showed a sliver of surprise but following that, he used a commanding expression to look down on Yan Liqiang, smiling with an expression that didn’t reach his eyes. “Long time no see, Liqiang. You look good. It seems that your duties on Tianqiao Peak suit you well, hahaha...”

Hearing that person mock Yan Liqiang, Gu Zexuan glanced towards Yan Liqiang and the two of them exchanged a look. Gu Zexuan almost immediately knew that this person was the one who Yan Liqiang had mentioned previously who wasn’t easy to deal with.

“Hahahaha...” Yan Liqiang hadn’t even opened his mouth before Gu Zexuan started laughing loudly. He winked at Yan Liqiang, deliberately asking in a loud voice, “Senior Martial Brother Yan, could this person be the external disciple with the surname Niu or Ma [1], who recommended you to Tianqiao Peak for menial labor?”

“Yes, that’s right!” Yan Liqiang nodded his head.

“What did you say, did you just call him Senior Martial Brother Yan?” Ma Liang gaped, watching Gu Zexuan and Yan Liqiang’s double act. He looked like he was in disbelief as if he had heard wrong, Gu Zexuan was clearly older than Yan Liqiang and they were all external disciples. Was Gu Zexuan unaware of the Divine Sword Sect’s rules, and that’s why he was randomly using the Senior Martial Brother honorific?

Gu Zexuan basically ignored Ma Liang, merely glancing at him disdainfully before he turned his head around and smiled in an exaggeratedly goofy manner towards Yan Liqiang. “I hope that Senior Martial Brother Yan won’t lower himself to this asshole’s level. Without this asshole’s recommendation, how else would Senior Martial Brother Yan be given recognition by Hall Master Su and become the Divine Sword Sect’s youngest servant within Gray Hall? Assholes always seem to scheme and think they’re smarter than everyone else, but they never know to expect the unexpected. Your prospects will be boundless in the Divine Sword Sect, Senior Martial Brother Yan, so you can slowly plan your revenge on this type of asshole. Let’s just see if you can’t ruin him...”

Yan Liqiang suppressed his laughter, not expecting Gu Zexuan’s acting skills to be so good, merely watching how Gu Zexuan was humiliating Ma Liang in front of him.

“Who are you cursing...” Ma Liang, who was standing to the side, got mad as Gu Zexuan called him an asshole to his face. He couldn’t suppress his fury and instead, rushed directly over, fist heading straight towards Gu Zexuan.

Before Ma Liang could even rush over, there was someone else who was even faster from Yan Liqiang’s side. They stepped out without a sound, like a bullet, slamming up against Ma Liang with their fist.

Thud... thud... thud...

Three muted thuds sounded and Ma Liang grunted, taking three steps back directly, his expression changed immediately. Zhao Huipeng, on the other hand, stood tall and unmoving, merely glaring coldly at Ma Liang. Looking at it now, his short and stout figure was as firm and unyielding as a stone wall.

Ya Liqiang was also slightly surprised. He was just about to make a move, but he never expected for Zhao Huipeng to already make a move a step ahead of him. He never thought that the usually inarticulate and introverted Zhao Huipeng would have such a raging fire of a temper within. Looking at the way that Zhao Huipeng had just rushed out, it definitely wasn’t a spur of the moment reaction, but rather, the move was planned in advance.

Yan Liqiang glanced briefly at and then through Ma Liang, who was standing in place, gaping with a disbelieving expression. He didn’t speak at all, instead, he headed straight towards the direction of the Gray Hall and entered. Gu Zexuan laughed coldly at Ma Liang once and after swearing by calling him an asshole once more, he also followed Yan Liqiang inside. Zhao Huipeng also turned to follow as well.

Watching Zhao Huipeng walk up, Yan Liqiang asked quietly. “Huipeng, what style of boxing are you practicing? Those moves before were really too strong...”

Zhao Huipeng scratched his head, an embarrassed expression written across his face. “I’m practicing Cannon Fist...”

“Oh, no wonder...”

“Hehe, you might think that Huipeng normally doesn’t get angry, but his temper is quite violent...” Gu Zexuan said, giggling.

...

Ma Liang stood outside the entrance to the Gray Hall, frozen in place for a few seconds. After he watched Yan Liqiang and the others walk inside, he clenched his teeth, shaking out his slightly painful hand and also followed them in – until now, he was still unwilling to believe that Gu Zexuan spoke the truth. When he was still at the Commandment Courtyard, he had fallen for Yan Liqiang’s lie before, fooled by Yan Liqiang’s one barely described sentence. He had always thought that Yan Liqiang was full of tricks, and was unwilling to easily believe anything he said.

Even if Yan Liqiang was merely acting with someone before, the fact that Yan Liqiang suddenly had two extra helpers by his side, made his heart uneasy. He wasn’t too clear on what exactly Gu Zexuan was actually capable of, but the silent youth who had rushed out before had actually made Ma Liang a little fearful.

...

The Gray Hall was within the Divine Sword Sect’s Dimo Valley, the entirety of the Gray Hall was just one large yard. Inside the yard there was a circle of tall lofts, each loft was functional, surrounding the large yard. There were external disciples, all dressed in gray, walking in and out of the Gray Hall. Occasionally there was one or two people wearing black that appeared and the external disciples wearing gray would all politely clear the way, standing to the side, waiting until those black-clad disciples passed before resuming their movement. You could see how strict the segregation of the Divine Sword Sect’s ranks was and how important the rules were from this.

Ma Liang had come to the Gray Hall today because his Senior Martial Brother Huo had gotten someone to request his presence, he didn’t know what it was for. As he entered the Gray Hall, Yan Liqiang and the other two were walking in front of him, and after walking for a little while, Ma Liang saw Senior Martial Brother Huo come out from within a loft from over there. He strode down the stairs, walking towards Ma Liang with a warm and welcoming smile.

Senior Martial Brother Huo’s warmth made Ma Liang feel flattered. Just as Ma Liang was about to hurry forward, he suddenly saw that Senior Martial Brother Huo had already stopped in front of Yan Liqiang’s group, grasping Yan Liqiang’s hands in excitement.

“Hahaha, Junior Martial Brother Yan, I have been waiting for your arrival for ages. This morning, we here at the Gray Hall received the official document from Tianqiao Peak. Hearty congratulations on Hall Master Su personally requesting Junior Martial Brother Yan into service with Tiaoqiao Hall. When our attendant heard this, they specifically requested for me to wait here for Junior Martial Brother Yan to do your paperwork when you arrive...”

Even though he wasn’t standing in front of Senior Martial Brother Huo, the smile on Senior Martial Brother Huo’s face and the words that he spoke were all seen and heard by Ma Liang. They were just like a lightning storm in clear skies, striking him so hard that his mind buzzed loudly and his vision blurred with static. Ma Liang almost couldn’t even keep his balance, screaming internally – how was it possible, how was it possible, how was it possible? It was just a job cleaning toilets, how was it possible that it had managed to attract the attention of Tianqiao Hall’s Hall Master and end up being promoted to Tianqiao Hall’s servant......

“How gracious of you, Senior Martial Brother Huo. It’s just a little thing, how could we trouble you to personally come and welcome us. I don’t deserve this honor...”

“Come, let us speak inside...”

“Please, Senior Martial Brother Huo first...”

In Ma Liang’s eyes, Yan Liqiang and his Senior Martial Brother Huo were both smiling brilliantly, each of them even more polite than the other. They were like birth brothers who hadn’t seen each other in years, each of them clasping their hands together, entering the loft.

As he walked up the steps, Senior Martial Brother Huo had glanced back towards Ma Liang casually. That one glance caused Ma Liang’s heart to sink like a stone, the look was extremely freezing cold.

...

Inside the loft, Servant Huo seemingly used the fastest speed possible to help Yan Liqiang complete his paperwork. Afterward, servant Huo was all smiles as he held out a platter in front of Yan Liqiang – on top, there was a black belt and a pretty bronze waist tag. The waist tag had the image of Tianqiao Peak imprinted in the middle and beneath the tag there were bunches of bright red silk strands, making it look quite beautiful.

The Divine Sword Sect’s external disciples all wore gray – but the lower, middle and upper classes were denoted by different color belts. The ones with gray belts represented lower class disciples, the ones who wore brown belts were middle class disciples and finally, the ones with black belts were upper class external disciples.

And that bronze waist tag was the physical sign of their representation of the authority of servant disciples.

Yan Liqiang changed to the black belt and then tied the waist tag to the side of the belt. The red silk strands on the waist tag fluttered and all of a sudden, he looked completely different. Or at least, in the eyes of servant Huo, Gu Zexuan, and Zhao Huipeng, Yan Liqiang suddenly felt like a different person.

“Good, good, Junior Martial Brother Yan, you indeed to seem much more extraordinary once you put on this belt. From today onwards, Junior Martial Brother Yan, you’re the youngest Gray Hall servant of the Divine Sword Sect. Congratulations...” Servant Huo stood to one side, complimenting him endlessly and loudly, completely disregarding the strange looks that Gu Zexuan and Zhao Huipeng were directing at him.

“Thank you for your assistance, Senior Martial Brother Huo!” Yan Liqiang held his hands together politely towards Servant Huo. There wasn’t even a hint of arrogance, it was as if he had completely forgotten the unhappy feelings from his first meeting with Servant Huo.

“No need for such words, this was just part of the job!” Servant Huo said seriously. He suddenly paused before changing the subject, looking at Yan Liqiang with narrowed eyes. “As Junior Martial Brother Yan goes into service today with Tianqiao Peak, we should definitely celebrate. It was fate that Junior Martial Brother and I met as soon as you entered into the Divine Sword Sect. If Junior Martial Brother Yan doesn’t object, tonight I’ll host a banquet in your honor at Dihui Valley’s Meteor Tower and introduce a few friends to you as well. I don’t know if Junior Martial Brother Yan is amenable to the idea?”

“If Senior Martial Brother Huo is hosting, then I’ll definitely be there...” Yan Liqiang said, smiling.

Servant Huo’s squinted eyes immediately opened, and he suddenly looked happier, laughing loudly. “Then that’s set, I’ll see Junior Martial Brother Yan there tonight...”

“Okay! There’s just one thing I want to trouble Senior Martial Brother Huo with.”

“Please speak!”

Yan Liqiang looked towards Gu Zexuan and Zhao Huipeng. “If I’m to serve on Tianqiao Peak, then I’m still short of two helpers. If I could trouble Senior Martial Brother Huo to help do the paperwork for the two of them as well, so they can transfer their menial labor tasks to Tianqiao Peak...”

“It will be merely a small matter, just a small matter indeed...”

...

After finishing all the paperwork for himself and both Gu Zexuan and Zhao Huipeng as well, as Yan Liqiang was exiting the loft, servant Huo was still politely guiding them out. Ma Liang, who had been in the yard previously, was long gone, hiding himself away somewhere, not even able to show his face.

“Senior Martial Brother Huo, there’s no need to see me off!”

“Alright, then I’ll see you tonight. See you later...” Servant Huo was full of smiles.

...

Walking through Gray Hall, there were countless people who were quietly checking out the black belt tied around Yan Liqiang’s waist and that servant waist tag. Each of the looks was of astonishment and envy. As Yan Liqiang walked past, he gathered an entire swathe of attention.

Exiting the Gray Hall, seeing that there were much fewer people on the road, Zhao Huipeng, who had been fuming silently this entire time, finally spoke out, “Yan... Senior Martial Brother Yan, since that man named Huo is so hateful, why were you still so polite to him and why did you accept his invitation at night?”

“He was only hateful before. Huipeng, did you see how cute servant Huo was today? Anyway, the nicer I am to him today, the more he won’t dare to look down on me and the more he’ll fear me. On the other hand, if I had been arrogant and high handed today, he would actually feel more secure and safe...” Yan Liqiang smiled slightly, looking at Zhao Huipeng. He saw that Zhao Huipeng was still not quite understanding so he helpfully explained, patiently, “Tonight is Huo Bin’s apology banquet, if I don’t go, then from today onwards, we can only be enemies until the bitter end, standing against each other. At this moment, our status within the Divine Sword Sect isn’t firmly set yet, we haven’t learned any real skills and we also don’t have any reliable supporters so it’s really not a good idea for us to be enemies with those internal disciples. Speaking of which, any resentment we have with servant Huo isn’t exactly a huge thing; in the end, it’s merely some trivial matters that made us suffer a little bit of indignity. In this world, there’s really no step we can cross over. If he’s willing to swallow his pride, then why shouldn’t we give him some dignity and see how he apologizes tonight. Then in the future, we’ll all be friendly and polite and it will all be okay so it’ll be easy to just have a chat when we’re face to face. It might turn out that we might be able to use each other as well, there’s no need to be quite so absolute in this...”

“Isn’t it just one inner disciple, him? How did it become ‘disciples’?” Zhao Huipeng scratched his head, wondering.

“Just then, Servant Huo already showed his hand, didn’t you hear, Huipeng?”

“What hand?”

Yan Liqiang could only patiently explain it through.

“Ah, that Huo guy is a tricky one, he had words within words, how can there be so many different meanings...”

“Then what did you expect...”

“Senior Martial Brother Yan, are you really only fourteen?” Gu Zexuan sighed. “All these interpersonal rules, you’re like an old hand at it all. I’m really quite impressed...”

Yan Liqiang smiled, Gu Zexuan’s ‘Senior Martial Brother’ suddenly sounded much more earnest than before...

Around evening, Yan Liqiang brought Gu Zexuan and Zhao Huipeng into the Divine Sword Sect’s Dihui Valley.

The marketplace of the Divine Sword Sect was in Dihui Valley. The entire Dihui Valley was bustling like the liveliest bazaar and the main streets in big cities, except that the ones who shopped here were all disciples of the sect. Standing at the entrance of Dihui Valley, the entire valley was filled with people as far as the eyes could see, dressed in clothes of various colors and busy doing their own things. The clothes they wore were obvious and could easily be distinguished at a glance, setting each other off nicely.

The ones dressed in gray were the external disciples, dressed in black were the inner disciples, dressed in purple were the elite disciples and dressed in blue were the direct disciples. Basically one could easily tell the position of someone on the street just by looking at their attire. Among every disciple rank, their upper, middle or lower classes were each represented by a different colored sash. One would be able to know each other’s class after meeting face to face.

It stopped snowing from morning to afternoon, but by evening time it had started snowing again.

The last time Yan Liqiang came to Dihui Valley was more than three months ago. Back then, the weather was still quite pleasant. Many vendor’s stalls were set up on either side of Dihui Valley’s marketplace, the ones managing the vendor’s stalls were all disciples of the sect. The merchandise sold there were an eye-opening, dazzling array of beautiful exhibits of all sorts. Among them were a multitude of medicinal pills, weapons, medicinal herbs, handicrafts which were feasts to the eyes. Yet today, these vendor stalls were gone due to the weather. Only the shops and restaurants on either side of the marketplace were still operating.

These restaurants, shops, and buildings in Dihui Valley’s marketplace were all properties of the Divine Sword Sect. The people who managed these properties were from one of the ten major courtyards of the Divine Sword Sect – the Four Seas Courtyard. However, the ones who ran the stores and restaurants were disciples of the sect. As long as one could offer the highest bid, they’d get the rights to run the stores and restaurants. As to whether they could earn or lose from the business, that would depend on their own ability.

Everywhere in the Divine Sword Sect followed a strict hierarchy, except in Dihui Valley where rank didn’t really matter. Everything here followed business rules – with money, one could be worthy of becoming a boss and call upon the wind and summon the rain in Dihui Valley, even if they were only an external disciple. They could stay in towering big courtyards, enjoy exotic delicacies, have beautiful women in their arms while listening to fine music and lead a godly life.

That’s right, there was not only one, but multiple brothels operated by the Divine Sword Sect in Dihui Valley. The girls in those brothels all came fully packaged with looks and talents. Anything you could do in other brothels, you could do it in the brothels in Dihui Valley too. Among the many commandments of the Divine Sword Sect, none prohibited disciples from enjoying the service of a brothel. There were no issues as long as one could afford to pay and if the girls were willing.

There were a few dozen brothels in Dihui Valley and Meteor Tower was one of them. When Yan Liqiang and the rest arrived at the entrance of Meteor Tower, a staff was on a ladder, lighting up the row of lanterns at the entrance.

As soon as Yan Liqiang and the other two entered Meteor Tower, they already saw Huo Bin walking towards them with all smiles before they even needed to ask anyone where his room was. “Hahaha, Brother Liqiang is indeed punctual...”

As the host, of course Huo Bin would need to come earlier. However, Yan Liqiang wasn’t late either. As good manners, he had come slightly earlier than the appointed time they had both agreed on.

“Senior Martial Brother Huo, you are too courteous. How can we possibly make you wait here? You could have just told your staff to show us around. Hahaha...”

Yan Liqiang and Huo Bin proceeded to exchange a few pleasantries before Huo Pin led the three of them towards a corridor inside Meteor Tower.

“Brother Liqiang, what do you think of Meteor Tower?”

Yan Liqiang looked around in the surroundings. Meteor Tower was complete with pavilions, a rock garden, and even a gentle flowing stream. Although it was an eatery, it very well decorated. He nodded. “The place which Senior Martial Brother Huo has picked is naturally great!”

“This Meteor Tower is the property of Luo Tianyu, one of the seven heroes in the Divine Sword Sect. The title given to Senior Martial Brother Luo is Meteor Sword. Hence, this place is named after his title. I happened to know Senior Martial Brother Luo over my years in the Divine Sword Sect and he has taken good care of me so we will usually prefer to gather in Meteor Tower when needed...” Huo Bin appeared to be introducing Meteor Tower, but he was actually showing off his connections.

When Yan Liqiang heard that, he merely laughed. Yan Liqiang didn’t doubt the fact that Huo Bin knew one of the seven heroes in Divine Sword Sect, Meteor Sword, Luo Tian Yu. However, he wasn’t convinced when Huo Bin claimed that he was close to him. Over his career in customer relations from his previous life, he had heard and seen too much bullsh*t like this. Many would frequently claim to know some secretaries, mayors or executives. These words were meant to go in and out of your ears. If both parties were indeed that intimate, people would usually not show off their relationship while those who loved to show off their relationship with someone was actually not that closely acquainted with them. Yet many still fell for it.

Under Huo Bin’s lead, the three of them very quickly arrived at the entrance of a private room on the second floor of Meteor Tower. Yan Liqiang followed behind Huo Bin who had pushed the door open and went in, he saw three other people who had arrived earlier than them in the private room. Ma Liang was one of them. The other two were dressed in black clothes and seemed to be an inner disciple of the sect, just like Huo Bin.

When Yan Liqiang and the rest came in, the other three people stood up, including Ma Liang.

“Brother Liqiang, let me introduce you. This is Senior Martial Brother Hu Tiande, from the Winged Tiger Hall. This is Senior Martial Brother Li Kaihe, an officer from Commandment Courtyard. Both of them are fellows from our Cang Province...”

Hu Tiande and Li Kaihe were both in their twenties. For them to advance as Supreme Martial Warriors at their age, they were definitely elites no matter where they were. Hu Tiande was an extremely burly man with an intimidating figure. On the other hand, Li Kaihe was a smiley man with a round face and small eyes, seemingly amiable yet he appeared to be more schemingly calculative.

“Greetings, Senior Martial Brother Hu and Senior Martial Brother Li!”

“Hahaha, Brother Liqiang is indeed a fine looking man. No wonder you are able to go into service at such a young age. How enviable!” Li Kaihe said smilingly.

“Not at all, please guide me well in the future, Senior Martial Brothers!”

After being courteous with Hu Tiande and Li Kaihe, Yan Liqiang seriously introduced Gu Zexuan and Zhao Huipeng, who came along with him, to both of them. After the greetings, only then did Hui Bin find an opportunity to speak.

“This is Junior Martial Brother Ma Liang, also one of us from Cang Province. Since you are already acquainted with Junior Martial Brother Ma, I will skip the introduction!”

When Huo Bin introduced Ma Liang, Ma Liang stiffened and gave Yan Liqiang an awkward smile.

“Oh yes, I am already acquainted with Junior Martial Brother Ma, back at the Commandment Courtyard. Junior Martial Brother Ma treated me very well back then, how could I possibly forget him?”

When Huo Bin, Hu Tiande, and Li Kaihe heard Yan Liqiang, they exchanged looks with each other before everyone took a seat together.

The dishes hadn’t been served so the table was still empty.

“Ahem, ahem...” Huo Bin cleared his throat then reached out to retrieve a square box from under the table and placed it on the table. He took a deep breath and pushed it towards Yan Liqiang. “Here’s five hundred taels of silver. It’s a little congratulatory gift from me and Junior Martial Brother Ma. Congratulations on your promotion at Tianqiao Hall, Liqiang! May your future prospects in the Divine Sword Sect be brilliant!”

Despite Huo Bin’s sugar-coated words, the meaning behind it was that these taels of silver were an apology to Yan Liqiang from him and Ma Liang.

Five hundred taels of silver was not a small amount. The amount of money was enough to purchase a courtyard in the city. When Huo Bin pushed the box towards him, Yan Liqiang could almost feel the pained look on Huo Bin’s face. He wondered how much he had forked out for his portion.

The room instantly went silent.

Everyone’s gaze fell on Yan Liqiang. Yan Liqiang didn’t accept the silver. He only had an indifferent smile on his face as he calmly looked at Ma Liang. “I have been questioning myself why have Junior Martial Brother Ma seemed to be so against me all the time and deliberately made things difficult for me ever since I joined the Divine Sword Sect, despite the fact that I have never known you before, gotten involved with you, or offended you before. Have I owed you money, or snatched your woman away in my previous life?”

Under Yan Liqiang’s tranquil gaze and Hui Bin’s cold and intense stare, Ma Liang stiffly stood up with a slightly pale face and slapped himself hard twice across his own face. “I, Ma Liang, was blind and petty and have offended Senior Martial Brother Yan. Please allow me to make it up to you here today!”

“How do you plan to make up to me?”

“Please wait a little while, Senior Martial Brother Yan...” Ma Liang clenched his teeth and went out.

Ma Liang returned shortly after with two servants of the shop behind him. One of them was holding a big jar of white wine which was still sealed. The other was carrying a big tray of wine cups.

The servant holding the wine cups quickly arranged them on the table neatly while the other one unsealed the white wine and filled each cup on the table to the brim.

The servants left, leaving the table in the private room filled with wine cups full of wine. Half of the white wine in that big jar was already gone.

“There’s a hundred cups of wine on this table. I shall use these one hundred cups of wine to apologize to Senior Martial Brother Yan!” Ma Liang said while he picked up one of the cups and instantly downed the contents in one gulp, not leaving even a single drop. He then picked up the second cup and drank it in one gulp...

Under everyone’s gaze in the room, Ma Liang tipped his head backwards and gulped down cup after cup of the strong white wine as though he was drinking water.

As expected of a white wine, the moment the wine jar was unsealed, the room was filled with the smell of alcohol. Although the wine cups on the table weren’t that big, the amount of a hundred cups of white wine added together was a terrifying mass of at least three kilograms.

Ma Liang downed his first thirty cups of wine each in a gulp. After his fortieth cup, his face was burning like a branding iron. Yet, he continued on drinking. By his fiftieth cup, his eyes were bloodshot and he was panting like a bull. By his sixtieth cup, he was dripping with sweat, unable to remain standing still. By his seventieth cup, Ma Liang was completely drenched in sweat, barely able to even hold his wine cup and couldn’t stand without propping himself up with one hand on the table. His eyes were burning like they were about to explode into a bloody mess...

After more than ninety cups, Ma Liang couldn’t drink the remaining three cups. By now, the color of his face had already turned completely green. He used one hand to cover his mouth tightly, swallowing back the contents that had surged up to his throat from his stomach. This action was so disgusting that Gu Zexuan and Zhao Huipeng nearly retched at the sight of it. Ma Liang’s eyes were already losing focus. He couldn’t even see the wine cups on the table clearly and had to fumble for the remaining wine cups on the table with his trembling hand.

At this moment, Yan Liqiang suddenly stood up and pressed down on Ma Liang’s hand. He then reached out to pick up the wine cups on the table, downing contents to their last drop. After drinking three cups consecutively, he smashed the last cup on the floor to pieces, then turned to Ma Liang. “From today onwards, any grudge and resentment between us shall be written off at one stroke.”

“T-Thank you Senior Martial Brother Yan...” Ma Liang gave Yan Liqiang a dumb-looking smile before he collapsed under the table...

By the time they left Meteor Tower, the sky had grown completely dark. The meal had lasted for more than two hours before everyone left.

It was snowing heavily outside. Everywhere in Dihui Valley marketplace had lanterns hung up. In the darkness, the lanterns gave a slight mysterious warmth to the night.

Huo Bin’s exhilarated face was glowing red as he felt extremely proud. Hu Tiande and Li Kaihe politely bid farewell to Yan Liqiang and dropped their ostentatious act as Senior Martial Brothers. After only a meal, the relationship between Yan Liqiang and the few of them was as though they had sworn brotherhood with each other, causing Gu Zexuan and Zhao Huipeng to raise their eyebrows.

Even Ma Liang who had been so drunk that he was hardly conscious slapped his own chest towards Yan Liqiang before he left, and with a mouth reeking of the smell of alcohol, he said “Se-... Senior Martial Brother Yan, from now on, your concerns are I, Ma Liang’s, concerns too. As long as it’s a word from Senior Martial Brother, I, Ma Liang will not frown at even the sight of a mountain of daggers or a sea of raging flames...”

“Haha, go back and have a good rest...” Yan Liqiang chuckled.

“I-I’m fine... Don’t worry, Senior Martial Brother Yan...”

Huo Bin then signaled to the restaurant servants at the side with his eyes. The servants immediately came up to support Ma Liang, who could barely stand, and helped him onto the horse carriage which then left.

Although there was no transportation service provided at Meteor Tower, as long as one had the money, the servants in the restaurant could similarly look for a carriage to send the drunk guests back to their residence.

“Junior Martial Brother Yan, about the earth vinegar...” Huo Bin looked at Yan Liqiang with a burning gaze as he couldn’t help but rub his hands together.

“Rest assured, Senior Martial Brother Huo. As long as you can prepare the ingredients and place, I will come and make it together with you. This thing is only good for money over a short term hence, time is of the essence. We need to produce them and snatch the first sales before others figure it out. Once the heat is gone, we won’t be earning as much later...”

“No problem at all. I will send people to inform Junior Martial Brother Yan when the preparations are done. I just need two days at most...”

“Alright. Well then, Senior Martial Brother Huo, Senior Martial Brother Hu and Senior Martial Brother Li, I shall take my leave now...”

“Take care, Junior Martial Brother Yan, Junior Martial Brother Gu and Junior Martial Brother Zhao. We shall meet again next time...”

Yan Liqiang slowly led Gu Zexuan and Zhao Huipeng away in the direction of Tianqiao Peak, with Huo Bin and the others seeing them off.

Huo Bin waited until the silhouettes of Yan Liqiang and the other two vanished in the fluttering snowflakes from the other end of the marketplace. Only then did he turn to look at Hu Tiande and Li Kaihe. Both of them could understand the meaning behind the look in his eyes even without an explanation.

Li Kaihe’s eyes were squinted until the silhouettes of Yan Liqiang and the others had completely disappeared, he never once averted his gaze from Yan Liqiang. He only turned his head towards Huo Bin when he felt his gaze. “Junior Martial Brother Yan is indeed terrifyingly shrewd and unscrupulous. We should avoid offending a person like him and be an ally to him if possible instead of an enemy. That Ma Liang is really blind to think that he can step on anyone. Some people are like mud; nothing will happen if you step on them. Some are like a rock; sending a jolt when stepped on. But this kind of person is like a caltrop buried in the soil; impaling your foot if you step on it. Today’s outcome was the best for him...”

“Yes, my thoughts exactly. It’s really hard to figure out Junior Brother Yan!” Huo Bin let out a faint sigh and shook his head. “We were supposed to apologize to him today, but I didn’t expect to be pulled in by him to do earth vinegar business in the end. After hearing his analysis in the room just now, even I have a hunch that it’s impossible for it to not make any money. Ma Liang, that bastard almost dragged me down with him. I never expected an ordinary external disciple who cleaned toilets can actually make his mark...”

“That’s how impressive Junior Martial Brother Yan is! The future prospects of Junior Martial Brother Yan will not stop at just this. We must preserve our connection with him at all cost...”

“Yes!”

“Do you all think Junior Martial Brother has really only passed the Horse Stance stage?” Hu Tiande, who had been silent, suddenly asked this question, causing Huo Bin and Li Kaihe to be slightly taken aback...

...

“Senior Martial Brother Yan... why do we need to make the earth vinegar along with Huo Bin?” When they exited Dihui Valley’s marketplace, Gu Zexuan who had restrained himself for half a day, finally couldn’t hold back any longer and asked.

Although Gu Zexuan had some experience, compared to Yan Liqiang in terms of his business mind and skill, he was only at the kindergarten level. The challenges that Yan Liqiang had been through in his career from his previous life and the knowledge and insights he had gained was way beyond Gu Zexuan’s imagination.

“Regardless of the business nature, one can’t monopolize a business if they wish to expand and must learn to share and cooperate with others. Even if that earth vinegar is something that’s only in our hands, we can’t hold it for long and won’t earn too much from it before it loses its value. If we cooperate with Huo Bin’s group and utilize their resources and connections, we will be able to maximize the value of this earth vinegar. It’s just like making steamed buns. If the three of us can only make one steamed bun at most after trying desperately, even if the steamed bun belongs to only us, we don’t have much to share with each other and it won’t be enough to fill us. But if we cooperate with Huo Bin’s group, we might be able to make a basket of steamed buns. Even if we only get half a basket of the steamed buns, it is still a lot more than our own single steamed bun. That’s a win-win situation for them and for us. We will even able to resolve any conflicts between us through this collaboration...”

“I’m just a little not used to it all of a sudden...”

Yan Liqiang laughed. He could totally understand why Gu Zexuan couldn’t ‘get used to it’. For Gu Zexuan the resentment and grudge he held for Huo Bin had taken over too much of his emotions. Huo Bin was pretty much his only ‘sworn enemy’ in the Divine Sword Sect. Yet, this amount of resentment and grudge, which could barely even fill a cup, was hardly significant in Yan Liqiang’s eyes. It was nothing compared to the hatred he harbored towards his father’s killer and the obliteration of his clan.

One of the effective methods the Great Ancestor [1] used in his quest to dominate the world was the ‘united front’. Although Yan Liqiang had no ambitions in any sort of world domination and becoming a king or overlord, he still knew the idea and essence of a united front. If he wished for revenge, he would need to unite any forces he could find around him. Otherwise, he’d have nothing to fight against a Prefectural Governor.

“Hahaha, you’ll get used to it soon. If you wish to live comfortably in the Divine Sword Sect, sometimes you have no choice but to fight with others. But that doesn’t mean you can only fight all the time. You will also need to learn how to unite. We must know how to fight and also how to unite. Fighting is a strategy to unite, and uniting is the objective behind the fighting. Unity is achieved through struggle and destroyed by concessions...”

Yan Liqiang walked while he casually explained. After walking over a distance, he realized the other two beside him had stopped following him. He turned around and realized that Gu Zexuan and Zhao Huipeng had already stopped walking and were staring at him with dumbfounded expressions. Only then did Yan Liqiang realize all of a sudden that his casual words were simply too advanced and shocking to both of them– that was the most classic and wise saying of the Great Ancestor, summing up the experience of internal and external struggles of China over 5,000 years through dialectic.

“Leader, Huipeng and I shall be your loyal followers from now on...!”

...

Yan Liqiang bid his farewell to both of them before they reached the mountain basin at the foot of Tianqiao Peak and returned to the small house where he stayed.

After washing up, he took off his shoes and climbed onto his bed. However, Yan Liqiang didn’t lie down to rest. He instead sat in the lotus position on his bed and settled himself. He shut his eyes and focused on the sea of consciousness within his mind.

In just the blink of an eye, the huge ever-changing mysterious rock emerged in Yan Liqiang’s consciousness.

Yan Liqiang did nothing aside from focusing his gaze on that huge rock, just like how he did on the small hill at Temple of Purity.

An hour passed... Two hours passed... Three hours passed...

All of a sudden... Yan Liqiang heard an explosion in his mind. The mysterious huge rock suddenly produced a powerful attractive force akin to that of a black hole. In just a flash, Yan Liqiang’s entire consciousness was sucked into the mysterious stone...

In just a flash, Yan Liqiang found himself in an extremely mysterious place.

Above his head, beneath his feet, in front, and behind him, spinning galaxies were everywhere. It was as though he was in the deepest void watching the universe.

The spinning galaxies collided with each other in the void. Countless stars and planets were destroyed in the splendid explosion. New galaxies were then born in the midst of destruction and fusion...

The gigantic black hole was like a whirlpool in a rapid river, hidden in the darkest place in the universe, swallowing up celestial bodies one after another...

Countless meteors streaked across the skies, rushing from one galaxy to the other as if they were a ‘hi’ from one galaxy to the other...

Every comet carried its own mysterious message as they spun around the mysterious orbit of every galaxy...

Some of the mysterious space-time expanded, some shrunk, some were perishing, some were regenerating. It was as though the universe was breathing.

Billions of starlight interweaved and converged around him. Among the starlight, the figures of beasts, birds, bugs, snakes, dragons, and horses manifested and vanished from time to time. These beasts and birds manifested from the colorful starlight were running and orbiting around Yan Liqiang. Some were flying, some were running. There were fantastic oddities of all kinds. Yan Liqiang even saw a small divine dragon, manifested from golden starlight...

The galaxies were spinning, with a myriad of life forms thriving within them. The stars were like grains of sand, forming a big path beneath his feet.

Yan Liqiang was stunned by such magnificent, majestic, mysterious and unfathomable scenery. He stood there blankly for quite a while before he finally realized that his current body was not his real body. He was currently in a nearly transparent soul-state like the one after his death last time.

Where is this place? Why am I here? Countless questions filled Yan Liqiang’s mind.

“Is there anyone here? Where is this place?” Yan Liqiang shouted loudly into the void that surrounded him.

Neither anyone appeared nor answered Yan Liqiang’s questions. But Yan Liqiang’s shout caused the silhouettes of the various birds and animals revolving around him to instantly vanish and a white projection suddenly appeared in front of Yan Liqiang.

The light projection was round, like a big circular door. Within the light projection was an empty gray space. Just when Yan Liqiang’s alertness was heightened, he realized that some human figures had started to form within that empty space. Everything that happened before his eyes seemed so surreal...

...

A youth was collapsed on the ground with a crowd of other youths surrounding and staring at him. Only one little fattie with some pimples on his face crouched in front of the youth who had collapsed on the ground and anxiously slapped his face. “Liqiang, wake up...! Liqiang, wake up...!”

When Yan Liqiang saw the face of the youth collapsed on the floor, he thought he seemed quite familiar. The moment he heard the name of the youth being called, Yan Liqiang jolted as his old memories suddenly came flooding back to him – he was that youth lying on the floor. The other youth who was slapping his face was Su Chang. The scene replaying before his eyes was the memory of his consciousness when he had woken up for the first time back then.

“Everyone, please give way. Don’t surround him. Let’s get him to the medical hall first...”

A middle-aged man came before Yan Liqiang. After checking his body, he had people carry Yan Liqiang away...

Scenes of the past replayed before Yan Liqiang’s eyes. Right at this moment, he was watching everything from the perspective of a spectator watching a movie.

Yan Liqiang saw himself being deliberately dropped from the stretcher. After lying on the medical hall for a very long time, he once again heard the familiar yet indistinct voice...

“My son! Where is my son, Yan Liqiang...?”

At the sight of Yan Dechang’s appearance in the ward, his forehead beaded with sweat, tears suddenly cascaded down Yan Liqiang’s cheeks...

Everything that ensued was the experience Yan Liqiang had personally gone through. He followed Yan Dechang home on a bullock cart, met the steward from the Hong Clan in the middle of their journey, fled to Hualong County for safety, then started to cultivate Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing, and then coincidentally saved someone from the Lu Clan... Murdered King Cobra, eradicated the Hong Clan... Followed by his glorious achievement in taking the first place among the top three in the Martial Arts County Trial... Then arriving at Pingxi City and finally meeting a tragic end with his father in that city...

The moment Yan Liqiang died, everything in the light projection froze. A second light projection then fell in front of Yan Liqiang. In it, he saw himself lying beneath a pine tree, stark naked. He had woken up after a sneeze, then ran to the nearby Temple of Purity and borrowed some clothes. “I’m alive, I’m alive...!” He then yelled at the road at the foot of the mountain... Hu Provincial City appeared before his eyes next... In the small forest, he had murdered Wu Tao along with two others... Finally, in Longhu Mountain, he ran into Liu Guiyuan and was brought to Lai Province by him and joined the Divine Sword Sect... Then he was cleaning the toilets on Tianqiao Peak before he finally gathered in the Meteor Tower today with Huo Bin and the rest... He then returned to his small wooden hut, took off his shoes after washing up and climbed up his bed and sat in lotus position... The frame then froze...

Weakness from the sensation of his mind being sucked empty suddenly overcame him, everything before his eyes turned black...

...

Yan Liqiang opened his eyes and found himself still seated in lotus position on the bed in his small wooden house. Everything in the room was still. Only the vague sounds of the howling wind outside the house could be heard.

He took a glance at the clock placed on the table by the bed and discovered that only about three hours had passed since he climbed onto his bed. The time seemed to be the moment when his sea of consciousness was being sucked into that rock. Then why did he feel as though he had stayed a very long time in that mysterious place, even though time seemed to have been frozen outside?

Yan Liqiang had too many questions in his mind. Yet he wasn’t able to ponder about it at this moment because his mind seemed to have just been emptied out by someone, even his thoughts had grown numb. Exhaustion and drowsiness assaulted him. He immediately fell backward into a slumber...

...

By the time Yan Liqiang woke up again, light from outside had already flooded into his small wooden house through the windows.

This was probably the latest Yan Liqiang had woken up over the past few months. He took a look at the time the clock was showing at the head of his bed and was shocked. He didn’t even have the time to practice his eye technique and clambered out of his bed. With the quickest speed possible, he washed up, dressed up and tidied himself up. He then opened the door and left his room.

This morning happened to be the first day he had to report to Tianqiao Hall. If he had woken up half an hour later, he would have been late.

The snow outside had stopped, but the snow piled up on the ground had grown a few inches thicker since yesterday. The moment the cold wind outside blew against Yan Liqiang’s face, which had been washed with cold water, Yan Liqiang was roused back to reality from his thoughts on the mysterious void last night.

“Ha, Leader, I was about to come over and wake you up with Huipeng. Today is our big day!” Gu Zexuan winked at Yan Liqiang. He and Zhao Huipeng had already arrived at Yan Liqiang’s small courtyard. “Knowing that Leader actually sleeps in from time to time, Huipeng and I can finally let out a breath of relief. That proves you are still a human and there are times you can doze off too!”

Yan Liqiang didn’t explain anything. He just laughed and led both of them up Tianqiao Peak...

As a new servant on Tianqiao Peak, Yan Liqiang’s assigned duty was storekeeping. He was responsible for managing an ore warehouse.

Compared to cleaning the toilets, this work couldn’t be any easier. The only thing Yan Liqiang had to do was handling the paperwork of every ore coming in and going out of the warehouse.

There were fixed times for the ores to come in and go out of the warehouse on Tianqiao Peak. The ores were delivered there by a specific person and the Senior Martial Brothers on Tianqiao Peak would produce a receipt to retrieve them. The ores went out from the warehouse every morning between seven and nine o’clock and came in between one and three o’clock in the afternoon. Apart from these two intervals, Yan Liqiang basically had nothing much to do for the remaining time. Therefore he had a lot of time to cultivate or do whatever he wished.

This job was definitely a privilege for Yan Liqiang.

Following Yan Liqiang, Gu Zexuan and Zhao Huipeng were promoted as servant followers, thus becoming Yan Liqiang’s assistants and legitly freeing themselves from the chaotic farm work.

On the second day of their promotion on Tianqiao Peak, the three of them moved away from the small mountain basic at the foot of Tianqiao Peak to a courtyard on Tianqiao Peak. With this, their standard of living was instantly significantly upgraded and their meals were no longer salted vegetables and steamed buns or steamed buns and salted vegetables every day. They were finally able to start enjoying the privileges on Tianqiao Peak.

On Tianqiao Peak, Yan Liqiang’s superior was a servant with the surname Huang. On top of Attendant Huang was the manager and on top of the manager was Hall Master Su of Tianqiao Hall.

Apart from being obligated to abide by the various commandments and rules of the Divine Sword Sect on Tianqiao Peak, there was an additional taboo which no one had ever dared to violate– using Hall Master Su’s real name. This was because Hall Master Su’s full name was Su Xiaoai [1]. Hall Master Su would most definitely flip if anyone dared to call him by that name and it was guaranteed that said person would get into trouble, extremely big trouble.

This was a warning Attendant Huang had eagerly given Yan Liqiang upon his arrival at Tianqiao Peak.

Yan Liqiang didn’t expect that Hall Master Su of Tiaoqiao Peak– a bearded, coarse manly man, to have such a girly name either. He had to restrain himself from bursting out in laughter and nodded seriously when he heard Attendant Huang’s warning for the first time.

Attendant Huang was an old man who seemed very amiable and decent. He was one of the seniors among the Divine Sword Sect and had worked for the sect for a few decades. He was still only an external disciple in his sixties. Ten years ago, he had only progressed into a Supreme Martial Warrior by relying on medicinal pills when he was in his fifties. Due to his work abilities and his attentiveness, he was noticed by Hall Master Su and promoted as an attendant on Tianqiao Peak.

One was a young servant age fourteen, the other was an old attendant in his sixties. There was only a level of rank difference between them, yet the disparity in their age was a few folds. One had boundless future prospects ahead of him, the other was already almost at the end of his time. Due to this, Yan Liqiang was even more respectful towards Attendant Huang. He was polite and never dared to overstep his boundary even in the slightest. Ever since arriving at Tianqiao Peak on the first day, Yan Liqiang had truly committed to asking for tasks every morning and then reporting back to his immediate superior at the end of the day. He was never ostentatious and Attendant Huang was extremely satisfied with him.

The heavy snow continued on for three days before it finally stopped. Such weather was extremely rare in Lai Province and the Divine Sword Sect. Even so, it didn’t cause any damage or loss for the Divine Sword Sect. However, quite a number of people did find this phenomenon odd. After the snow stopped, the unsold earth vinegar which Yan Liqiang, Gu Zexuan, and Zhao Huipeng had previously made, gained fame overnight within the sect.

There was no such thing as an impenetrable wall in this world. News about Yan Liqiang being promoted into service spread within the sect after brewing for a few days, suddenly causing quite an uproar among the external disciples of the sect.

Following this news, the earth vinegar that Yan Liqiang produced also spread like wildfire. Through rumors and information, it was said that Yan Liqiang had managed to clean the toilets on Tianqiao Peak extremely well with the earth vinegar he had made, thus drawing the attention of Hall Master Su of Tianqiao Hall, who later promoted him into service on Tianqiao Peak.

With this, the price of the earth vinegar which initially couldn’t even be sold for a measly 20 copper coins suddenly skyrocketed in just two days – to a bottle for 50 copper coins, to a bottle for 100 copper coins... then 500 copper coins for a bottle... causing a shortage of supply to meet the demand. This made Gu Zexuan and Zhao Huipeng grin from ear to ear.

Although meals and daily necessities were inevitable, the earth vinegar at 500 copper coins a bottle was a lot more expensive than most fine wine. Yet, the Divine Sword Sect never lacked wealthy people. As the saying went: ‘martial arts is to be practiced by the educated and the wealthy’. Those who could truly focus on training martial arts were often from clans of a decent background. At the same time, all toilets of various sizes in the sect had a huge demand for the earth vinegar. Putting aside the external disciples who wished to copy Yan Liqiang’s ‘success story’, even high-ranking officers like the Elders and the Sect Master would wish to live in a cleaner environment. Therefore, they didn’t have to worry about the earth vinegar not selling.

At this point in time, Yan Liqiang had completely handed over the entire business of the earth vinegar to Gu Zexuan and Zhao Huipeng. He instructed Gu Zexuan to slowly sell them; just selling a few bottles every day would suffice. They had to try their best to slow down the speed of pushing out the products, so he established a quota for Gu Zexuan and Zhao Huipeng. Regardless of how the both of them planned to sell or how many people wished to buy, they had to slowly sell the batch of earth vinegar they had made together so that the stock could last for three months until the earth vinegar they made with Huo Bin and the rest were ready to be sold.

“The three of us could only make so much earth vinegar. The amount was too little to earn anything. The earth vinegar we made with Huo Bin’s cooperation is the one that will truly earn us money. Over this period of time, the ones we made were merely to create a topic of discussion and draw others attention, so we can control the number of sales when the price is rising. Zexuan, go find Huo Bin tomorrow for a discussion. Have him find a few shillabers to ramp the price up for earth vinegar...”

“Um, what do shillabers and ramping mean?” Gu Zexuan stared at Yan Liqiang in slight embarrassment. Prior to his meeting with Yan Liqiang, he never felt dumb, he could at least be considered a little smart. However, after meeting Yan Liqiang, Gu Zexuan had started to question his own intelligence because he couldn’t understand or even heard of the many terms that Yan Liqiang had mentioned.

Yan Liqiang briefly explained to him about shillabers and ramping prices, then enlightened him about some marketing strategies. When Gu Zexuan and Zhao Huipeng heard about those rotten business marketing tricks people used in later generations, they were dumbstruck. The way they looked at Yan Liqiang was as though he was an alien.

...

After handing over the earth vinegar business to Gu Zexuan and Zhao Huipeng, Yan Liqiang no longer had anything to do with it. Apart from working at fixed hours, Yan Liqiang now mostly spent all his remaining time every day on doing one thing– exploring the secret of the strange rock in his sea of consciousness.

At this point in time, cultivating Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing had pretty much become a way for Yan Liqiang to recover his stamina and mind.

As the saying went: ‘Something that stays in your mind will someday spring up in your life!’

Yan Liqiang kept exploring every day without rest and gradually felt that he had seemed to discover a way to interact with that mysterious rock. At the same time, he also uncovered many secrets the rock held...

‘Interacting with a rock’. No one would believe it if word got out. They’d probably think Yan Liqiang was mad. Yet everything was real.

The key to interacting with that rock was not through any verbal language or written text, but the heart. To put it more precisely, pure consciousness and spirit energy.

Every time Yan Liqiang closed his eyes and concentrated his attention towards that rock in the sea of his consciousness for nearly three hours, his entire consciousness would be sucked into a mysterious and boundless void by that rock.

It was the same mysterious and boundless void Yan Liqiang had seen during his first time.

The first time he went in, Yan Liqiang didn’t even know how to exit. He later discovered that he only needed to shut his eyes when he was in that void and think about his physical body at the same, he’d exit from there in a flash and regain his movement. If he didn’t try to exit on his own accord, then he’d eventually be ‘kicked out’ by the rock when he was extremely exhausted, just like what happened during his first time.

Every time he got forcefully kicked out by the rock, Yan Liqiang would feel as though he had pulled all-nighters over a few consecutive days to work on tender documents in his previous life. His entire body felt extremely fatigued, just like he had just been thoroughly drained. Other than sleeping, he wanted to do nothing else.

After a few tries, Yan Liqiang realized that whenever he passed through that rock and stayed in there, it seemed like some sort of formless spirit energy in his mind would be depleted and that spirit energy was the bridge which facilitated his communication to the rock.

Within the mysterious void, Yan Liqiang tried many times and even used different methods to keep track of time. He then realized that no matter how long he stayed in the mysterious void, the time in the outside world seemed to be completely frozen the moment he entered. Sometimes, when he felt like he had stayed inside there for a few hours when the time he exited he realized that the time outside seemed to have stopped the moment he entered the mysterious void.

Yan Liqiang was clueless on this situation either. With his not-so-profound scholarly knowledge and self-cultivation, this situation only reminded him of a line he had read from a book in the past–’To a line, a dot would always be stationary; to a surface, a line would also always be stationary. To a living being, a surface would also equally be stationary.’ In our living world, as long as you didn’t move a rock or a table, they would forever stay stationary. From this, we know that if one watched everything in the lower dimension from a higher dimension, everything in the lower dimension would forever be stationary.

Yan Liqiang simply couldn’t figure out just what sort of place was that mysterious space within the rock, but at the same time, he didn’t care either. The only thing which bothered him the most was whenever he entered that mysterious place, he would always be able to watch the scenes from his past on those two magical light screens which would appear inside.

One of the light screens would always play everything he had experienced when he was in Pingxi Prefecture and freeze after the scene where he was murdered.

The other light screen would be playing everything he had experienced in his current body up to this point. The contents of the light screen would always increase every time he came. The additional content were things he experienced between the last time and up to the point when he entered this place again.

Everything playing on those two light screens was like separate documentary films– one of them had already finished recording while the other one was still in progress.

Could it be that apart from being able to let him reincarnate, the rock in his sea of consciousness was also a self-recording video gallery and QQ photo album created by some sort of unimaginable existence? – this thought flashed across Yan Liqiang’s mind. But after seriously thinking about it, he realized just how ridiculous and hilarious his line of thinking was. Such creativity and invention probably only existed in silly films like ‘From Beijing with Love’ starring Stephen Chow; impossible in reality.

Therefore, he believed that those two light screens were definitely not just boring films. They must have some other reason for appearing that he had yet to realize.

With this question in mind, Yan Liqiang spent more than a month repetitively entering and exiting that mysterious space, studying the ‘documentary films’ playing in those two light screens over and over again.

The more he watched those two documentary films, the more he realized those light screens, which were playing different documentaries in them, were like two doors. It seemed as though he only had to push against it gently and his entire body would be able to fly into it...

Every time he entered the mysterious space, it seemed to be waiting for him to fly into one of the light screens. This seemed to be an extremely important choice he had to make.

Yan Liqiang had no idea what was behind those light screens and didn’t know what would happen if he chose any one of them. That was because the more he observed, the more he felt the foggy void behind those light screens was filled with the unknown and uncertainty. He kept observing, lingering around, hesitating and pondering for nearly two months.

Over these two months, Yan Liqiang would always be overwhelmed by grief and agony every time he saw the scene in the first light screen where Yan Dechang died.

If one wished to know the taste of pears, then he’d have to personally try a taste of it...

Finally, one night after two months, Yan Liqiang clenched his jaw, stamped his foot and barged headfirst through the first light screen...

“Little Brother, can I exchange seats with you...?”

When Yan Liqiang opened his eyes, he found himself sitting on a ship. A woman who held a swaddled infant in her arms turned around in her seat in front and looked at Yan Liqiang with a pleading gaze. It seemed like this woman was the one who had given him two pats on his shoulder just now, rousing Yan Liqiang from his dreams.

The passenger ship was traveling along the river, shrouded by the mist because it was raining. Raindrops were pounding against the canopy of the ship, and the pitter and patter of the rain sounded like beans being stir-fried. The woman was sitting in front of Yan Liqiang, next to the window. However, the window’s bolt was already damaged so the window could only be half-shut. Since it was pouring outside, the wind and drizzle on the river’s surface got tangled up with the wave of cold air that flew in through the small crack of the window, hitting the face of the swaddled infant.

This ship, this scene, this woman... Was he dreaming?

Yan Liqiang zoned out for a moment there.

“WAAA... WAA.... WAA...!!” The swaddled infant in the woman’s arms started crying loudly. The woman hurriedly rocked the infant to coax him, and then gave Yan Liqiang a difficult look. “Look, Little Brother, the wind is coming through here and my young child here...”

“No worries at all, let’s exchange seats, Big Sister.” Yan Liqiang agreed. When he stood up, he secretly pinched himself hard on his thigh. The pain was piercing and very real.

“Thank you, thank you very much!” The woman in front gratefully stood up with her child in her arms and exchanged seats with Yan Liqiang who was holding his luggage.

The cold wind and drizzle flew onto Yan Liqiang’s face through the window. This sensation was unforgettable in Yan Liqiang’s entire life. His face suddenly flushed red as he clenched his fists tightly and turned around. “Big Sister, I was sleeping just now and got a little muddle-headed. What day is it today?”

“Today is 27th of the eighth lunar month in the 12th year of the Yuanping reign!” An answer immediately came out from the woman’s mouth.

That was right, today was...

Yan Liqiang’s head was buzzing as he secretly swallowed hard. He slung his leather sack on top of his legs and placed it against the window, instantly reducing the amount of wind and drizzle blowing in from the window. However, his emotional state was in a spectacular mess.

What is going on? Just what is going on?

Yan Liqiang calmed down and tried to jog his memory– he clenched his jaw, stamped his foot, and barged through the first light screen headfirst. The inside of the light screen was like an endless tunnel. Rivers of stars were flowing on either side of the tunnel. Countless smaller light screens appeared before him like meteors, spinning around him. In those smaller light screens were still pictures from the fragments of his previous life.

He realized that one of the light screens which flew before him was showing the parting moment between him and his father before he went off to Hu Provincial City for the first time by ship. Without any second thoughts, he barged head first into that light screen. Before he could even react, he felt as though he was falling rapidly from the highest point of a rollercoaster ride...

...

Little did he expect to be woken up by someone soon after that as he really was on that ship!

Had he returned to the past? Had he returned to Gan Province before the tragedy had struck?

Although this answer seemed outrageous, when he looked at the group of people riding on the same ship and the river outside, the reality before his eyes was silently telling Yan Liqiang that this was the true answer. He had indeed returned to the past...

If everything before his eyes was real, then what about just now? What about his other self in the Divine Sword Sect? What happened to him?

Yan Liqiang’s mind was all jumbled up. He shut his eyes and focused his attention on his sea of consciousness. After a long while, he realized that it was pitch-black in his sea of consciousness; he couldn’t feel anything at all.

Yan Liqiang thought for a moment and understood the reason why. Although his consciousness and soul had traveled to the past, this body was no different than it was before. It was still the very same body that had yet to progress into Martial Warrior status. Hence, he still couldn’t sense that mysterious rock in his sea of consciousness. Based on his past experience, he could only sense that mysterious object in his sea of consciousness after his death or after he progressed as a Martial Warrior.

In the past, Yan Liqiang wouldn’t be able to predict how long it would take before he could progress into a Martial Warrior as everything was unknown to him. However, at this point in time, he was aware that reaching the Martial Warrior realm was completely within his reach. As long as he diligently cultivated Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing, it would take him at most half a year to consecutively pass through the two stages and easily advance as a Martial Warrior.

Yan Dechang’s face flashed across Yan Liqiang’s mind. Emotions suddenly welled up in his heart and tears silently fell from his closed eyes. He clenched his fists tightly as he secretly swore in his heart. This time, he wouldn’t allow the tragedy to repeat itself again no matter what...

...

Yan Liqiang’s thoughts and emotions surged while he was on the passenger ship. He only regained his composure when the passenger ship reached Xi River Wharf in the evening.

“Everyone, get off the boat, get off the boat. Check if you have all your belongings and luggage with you. Don’t leave them onboard...” In response to the shout of the boatmen outside, Yan Liqiang followed the other passengers off the boat. The husband of the woman whom he had given up his seat to was waiting for her at the dock. Everything still seemed to be the same.

Upon the woman and her husband’s courteous insistence, Yan Liqiang accepted the warm oil-paper umbrella and then watched the family of three vanish from his sight.

Holding the oil-paper umbrella, Yan Liqiang took a deep breath and gazed at Pingxi City’s northern gate tower which towered like a gigantic beast in the midst of the hazy rain at more than 1,000 meters away. A few thoughts rapidly flashed across his mind before he quickly made his way toward Pingxi City’s northern gate tower.

By the time he reached Pingxi City’s northern gate tower, the rain had subsided significantly. Yan Liqiang saw a naked child of eight or nine years old who didn’t fear the drizzle, fishing by the river outside the city with a small fishing rod. Yan Liqiang fished out a handful of copper coins from his chest and approached him.

“Little Brother, do you want to earn some money?” Yan Liqiang asked and weighed the copper coins in his hand noisily.

The little boy’s gaze instantly fell on the copper coins in Yan Liqiang’s hand and swallowed a mouthful of saliva. However, he was still quite wary of him. “What do you want me to do? Let me get this straight first, I’m not doing anything bad!”

“It’s nothing bad. I have a friend who will be coming over in a while. I need your help in relaying a message to him!”

“That easy?”

“Yes, it’s just that easy. Just wait for my signal later...”

Taking another look at the few copper coins crashing against each other noisily in Yan Liqiang’s hand, the little boy immediately gave him a nod.

...

Seven or eight minutes later, a Chinese youth in his twenties emerged from the small road on the left of the city gate. Yan Liqiang spotted him when he was about a hundred meters away from the city entrance. At the appearance of this Chinese youth, Yan Liqiang immediately signaled the little boy with his eyes, whom instantly dashed towards that Chinese youth.

“Excuse me, are you Lin Hua?”

That youth was taken aback for a moment. “I am. How can I help you?”

“A friend of yours asked you to wait for him for at Three-Arch Bridge, he has something he wishes to pass to you...” The little boy pointed towards a small bridge about two hundred meters away and told the youth in a serious manner.

“Who is it that asked me to wait for him there?”

“I’m not too sure, he only told me he’s a friend of yours and that you will instantly recognize him the moment you see him. He said he had a big surprise for you!”

“Alright then, thanks!”

In just the blink of an eye, the little boy vanished from his sight like a wisp of smoke.

The youth by the name of Lin Hua glanced at the Three-Arch Bridge nearby and pondered for a moment before he turned around and made his way to the bridge. That place wasn’t that far anyway, and curiosity filled his heart. A few of his friends’ names popped into his mind. He wondered who was the one who wanted to give him a big surprise at Three-Arch Bridge Bridge.

Right after Lin Hua made his way towards the Three-Arch Bridge, a caravan of Shatu people, made up of a few dozen camels and rhinodrake steeds, appeared. Under the complicated gazes of everyone gathered at the city entrance, the caravan of Shatu people charged through the city gate haughtily and entered the city...

Although that youth by the name of Lin Hua was a few hundred meters away on the bridge, he saw the caravan of Shatu people too and angrily spat at them.

“Ptooey...!”

With that, the caravan of Shatu people entered the city without any incidents or conflicts.

Yan Liqiang stood beneath a willow tree by the river near the city entrance. He slightly squinted his eyes and watched those Shatu people enter the city with a cold gaze that did not have a single trace of warmth in it.

After those Shatu people entered the city, Yan Liqiang didn’t go in. He instead turned the other way and moved west from Pingxi City...

Yan Liqiang didn’t enter Pingxi City. He kept walking until he reached a place called Wuyang Village, which was west of Pingxi City.

The village was located halfway on the hill, with a population of about only three hundred clans. Below the village was a public road which connected the other two counties in the western Pingxi Prefecture. This public road could lead to White Stone Pass as its furthest location, which was the town of military importance out of the entire Gan Province. Beyond White Stone Pass was Mount Qiyun. All of Mount Qiyun was located at the border between the Great Han Empire and the Black Ram Tribe’s control. The Shatu Seven Tribes had settled down in the long and narrow area east of Mount Qiyun.

Since there were no big cities on the other side of this public road, there were significantly lesser caravans and pedestrians traveling on the path. Therefore, the villages and towns to the west of Pingxi City were obviously less flourished compared to the villages and towns in the east and the south. According to legend, this village only had a total of five rams when it was at its poorest state, and it was thus named Wuyang Village [1].

Wuyang Village was not just poorer than other places; the feng shui of this village was also less than desirable in many people’s eyes. It was simply too inauspicious since the biggest mass grave of Pingxi City was right on the other side of the hill of where Wuyang Village was located.

Unclaimed corpses which had died from various reasons in and around Pingxi City were usually all dragged to that mass grave where they were carelessly disposed of and buried. Sometimes, they’d even be thrown into the valley of the mass grave.

Who in the world would want to settle down next to this mass grave? Hence, people who were slightly more capable or those who had managed to earn some money all moved away. Due to this, there were many abandoned houses in Wuyang Village.

Apart from Yan Liqiang, no one knew the reason why Yan Liqiang had chosen to come here.

By the time he arrived at Wuyang Village, the sky was already completely dark.

There were two inns and restaurants in Wuyang Village, near the public road. Yan Liqiang got a room in one of the inns and stayed there.

After settling down, he had a casual meal at the inn and called the waiter over.

“How may I help you, Sir?”

“Are there any empty houses nearby?”

“Of course, both for rent and for sale!”

“Well then, find me a broker and have him guide me around Wuyang Village tomorrow afternoon!” Yan Liqiang told the waiter this and handed him twenty-seven or twenty-eight copper coins.

The waiter beamed joyfully and stuffed the copper coins in his chest. “No problem. Why are you interested in renting or buying a house in Wuyang Village, Sir? This place isn’t all that great!”

“It’s peaceful here and the cost of living is low!” Yan Liqiang then had a serious look on his face. “To be honest, I’m going to report to the martial arts academy tomorrow in Pingxi City and I will probably spend a very long time there. The cost of living including the daily necessities are so much more expensive in the city compared to outside, so I might as well find a suitable place outside of town. That will save me a lot of money in the long run!”

“Ah, pardon my disrespectfulness, Sir. I didn’t expect you to be a student at the prefecture’s martial arts academy despite your young age!” The waiter praised Yan Liqiang, but he didn’t seem to be that surprised. In rural areas of different counties within Pingxi Prefecture, it was indeed not easy to find a student from the martial arts academy. However, in Pingxi Prefecture, it was very normal to bump into a few students from the martial arts academy. “To be honest, you are right to choose Wuyang Village if you are looking for cheap accommodation, Sir! Students from the martial arts academy have rented here in the past because it’s cheaper to live here. Apart from the longer journey which requires some stamina to travel to the martial arts academy, everything is great here. You can practice martial arts in your own courtyard or on the mountain. No one will ever bother you!”

“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m thinking!”

...

After the waiter left, Yan Liqiang practiced four rounds of Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing in his room at the inn before he slept.

Yan Liqiang’s endless thoughts hit him like the tides tonight, causing him to toss and turn restlessly on his bed. After finally falling asleep with much difficulty, Yan Liqiang’s sleep was intruded by his dreams. He had a bizarre dream in which countless messages came pouring into his mind like visions.

He dreamed that the rock in his mind was called the Heavenly Stone and the space he entered was called the Heavenly Realm. Inside the Heavenly Realm, there were countless parallel worlds and universes alongside reality. When he returned to the current present time, an opening was left for him in the Heavenly Realm. Beyond that opening was the world that he had experienced in the Divine Sword Sect...

...

Yan Liqiang woke up the next day before daybreak. He laid on the bed and spent a long time recalling those bizarre dreams he had last night. He wasn’t sure if those dreams were real or if they were just figments of his imagination born from the subconsciousness of his mind.

After thinking for half a day, Yan Liqiang realized that he was going nowhere so he started to practice his eye technique. After he was done with that, he thought for a moment before he practiced another round of the ear technique. He only got up and washed up after doing both of those things, and then he practiced three consecutive rounds of Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing. After ensuring that both his body and mind were at their peak, only then did he leave the inn which was at the border of Wuyang Village. He bought two steamed buns at the roadside and made his way towards the western city gate of Pingxi City while eating the buns.

Yan Liqiang entered Pingxi City after paying a toll of two copper coins, then continued walking until he reached the martial arts academy located on Mount Thousand Pine in Pingxi City.

The students who were supposed to report in today had already formed a line in front of the martial arts academy entrance. Yan Liqiang automatically lined up at the end of the line.

Since Yan Liqiang arrived a lot earlier than the ‘last time’ Shi Changfeng had sent him here to report in, the students in queue were naturally different than those he met last time. However, the procedure was still the same – along with the receptionists from the martial arts academy.

Yan Liqiang reported his name, had his identity and fingerprints verified, and he finally received a student identity pass, thus completing his sign-in.

When he turned around and was about to leave, someone suddenly came into his sight– Qi Donglai!

Qi Donglai had also come to sign-in, but he didn’t expect to run into Yan Liqiang here.

After the expression on his face stiffened slightly, Qi Donglai turned his face to the other side and averted his gaze from Yan Liqiang.

Both of them didn’t speak and they brushed past each other as though they never knew each other in the first place...

Yan Liqiang calmly took a deep breath to ease the raging, murderous intent in his heart because he was afraid he wouldn’t be able to restrain himself from slaughtering that despicable bastard, Qi Donglai.

The first time Qi Donglai betrayed Yan Liqiang was for the Hong Clan. His betrayal made Yan Liqiang severe all ties with him. By doing that, he thought it would serve as a warning to Qi Donglai and he would take it as a lesson to be learned. Yet he didn’t expect Qi Donglai to once again become an accomplice to the young lord of the Wang Clan in Huanglong County, Wang Haofei, after they arrived at Pingxi Prefecture’s Martial Arts Academy.

If it wasn’t for Qi Donglai who gave Wang Haofei the information, his father wouldn’t have fallen into Ye Xiao’s clutches when he came to visit him that time. Then, maybe he wouldn’t have been so impulsive and many things that happened later could have been avoided...

Therefore, Qi Donglai was the most wretched person who deserved to die the most.

Unfortunately, although he murdered Wang Haofei and Ye Xiao last time, Qi Donglai still managed to slip away in the end. After his mishap, Qi Donglai instantly vanished from Pingxi City and he never returned to the martial arts academy or his home. Even his parents had no ideas of his whereabouts...

...

After reporting in at the martial arts academy, Yan Liqiang bought some daily necessities in Pingxi City and hired a horse carriage to transport all his stuff back to Wuyang Village. If he wished to live in Wuyang Village, then he’d have to prepare all these things for himself.

The waiter already found a broker for Yan Liqiang. Under the broker’s lead, Yan Liqiang took a tour of Wuyang Village and looked at all the empty houses that were available in Wuyang Village before he finally selected one to rent out.

The house he chose came with a courtyard, occupying about one mu of land. It was at a location in Wuyang Village that was nearest to the mountain and at the highest position. The family who previously lived here had moved to Pingxi City, thus abandoning this old courtyard. It had been a very long time since anyone had lived here.

After haggling with the broker, Yan Liqiang rented this courtyard with the annual payment of a tael and four maces of silver which included the broker’s commission. The broker assisted Yan Liqiang with settling all the paperwork in the afternoon of the same day. He then tidied up the courtyard and moved in everything he had purchased from the city.

On the 28th of the eighth lunar month in the 12th year of the Yuanping reign, Yan Liqiang, who was staying in Wuyang Village, woke up very early and started preparing for the busy day ahead of him.

Last time, he spent the day with Shi Dafeng. Both of them made plans to walk around Pingxi City for nearly the entire day. Since Yan Liqiang deliberately reported in at a different time than Shi Dafeng this time, both of them never met yesterday and they naturally didn’t end up as neighbors to each other. Shi Dafeng probably still lived near Three Yuan Street while Yan Liqiang lived in Wuyang Village which was outside the city. Therefore, today was completely free for Yan Liqiang. No one would come to disturb him. He had the entire day to himself today.

The first thing Yan Liqiang did when he woke up was practice his morning regime.

The so-called morning regime was the cultivation content that Yan Liqiang had set for himself from now on every time he woke up in the morning. For now, it included practicing one round of the eye technique, one round of the ear technique, and three rounds of Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing. He was to strictly adhere to this plan.

For the sake of progressing into a Martial Warrior in the shortest amount of time possible to possess powerful strength, Yan Liqiang had to speed up his Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing cultivation.

Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing cultivation didn’t have any requirements on the place and time; just a room of about two square meters would suffice. Yan Liqiang had already gotten used to discreetly practicing this secret technique in a dark room or his own room. Before every practice, he would first settle down in the room, shut his eyes, and take some time to carefully sense if anyone was spying on him through his spiritual perception. He would only begin practicing Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing after ensuring that was no one around.

Yan Liqiang’s past experience proved to him that his prudence was not superfluous; it was extremely essential. For an unknown youth who was never an apprentice to a master and had no expert guidance, he first saved a drowning person’s life in Huanglong County through a method unknown to anyone. He claimed that the saving method was imparted from a God in his dreams, and then he snatched the first position among top three in Qinghe County’s Martial Arts County Trial; such tale might not mean anything much in some people’s eyes. Even if they were a little suspicious, they couldn’t really do anything about it. However, such tale might spell trouble if it traveled to someone else’s ears.

There was another very important reason behind Wang Haofei from the Wang Clan of Huanglong County and Ye Xiao scheming against Yan Liqiang that time aside from Lu Beixin of the Lu Clan. The strength Yan Liqiang exhibited, which far exceeded his peers, had made both of them suspect if Yan Liqiang was cultivating some sort of secret manual. Hence, they attempted to unscrupulously get their hands on the said item from Yan Liqiang’s possession.

Judging from the current point of time, Wang Haofei definitely wasn’t aware of the relationship between Yan Liqiang and Lu Beixin yet.

The official opening of Pingxi Prefecture Martial Arts Academy was on the first day of the ninth lunar month, which was a few days from now. Lu Beixin had already been grounded by Old Master Lu back at home and was unable to contact Wang Haofei, so Wang Haofei still thought nothing was out of the ordinary. Even if he had heard of Yan Liqiang’s name in Huanglong County, he wouldn’t relate him to Lu Beixin in any way. Therefore, at this point in time, Yan Liqiang was nothing but a stranger to Wang Haofei, whom he had occasionally heard of.

Since Wang Haofei found trouble with him last time, Yan Liqiang would at least have to wait until the end of the tenth lunar month. Wang Haofei had only started to notice Yan Liqiang about a month after his arrival at the martial arts academy and after he received the information Lu Beixin that had secretly sent to him on Old Master Lu’s plan in pairing her up with Yan Liqiang. That was when he started assigning Qi Donglai as his lackey who would periodically report to him, which in turn led to a series of incidents afterwards.

Yan Liqiang carefully made a few conjectures. Had he not discovered the shady business between the Shatu people and Ye Clan that night, and had he not barged into the basement to rescue the girls, could his father and his tragic end be avoided?

All his conjectures pointed to the same final answer – No!

That was because the most important source of conflict between him and Ye Xiao was not the fact that he had discovered the shady business he had been doing in the basement; it was the fact that he wanted to get his hands on Lu Beixin so that he could use her as a cauldron in the Yin Yang and joyous secret technique he had been cultivating to establish his foundation. Therefore, Yan Liqiang was an obstacle to the Prefectural Governor’s young lord in his quest to obtain Lu Beixin. Not only that, this obstacle of all people might have some sort of attractive and drool-worthy divine secret manual in his possession. Regardless of Lu Beixin or the possible existence of secret manual or the secret technique Yan Liqiang had with him, there was no way that Prefectural Governor’s young lord would let him slip by. Yan Liqiang might be able to delay the explosion, but it would still eventually explode. Ye Xiao would still be able to use his position along with his authority and capabilities to easily crush an insignificant character like himself without much background and ruin his family.

Wang Haofei was definitely a key figure between Yan Liqiang and Ye Xiao.

If it wasn’t for his dirty deed in supplying the information, it would be impossible for Ye Xiao to catch wind of him and Lu Beixin in such a short period time and he wouldn’t have put his attention on such an insignificant new student in the martial art academy like Yan Liqiang.

According to the original timeline, Yan Liqiang’s peaceful life in the martial arts academy would be shattered in two months. As a new student who had joined the prefecture’s martial arts academy with his status as the best among top three of Qinghe County, he might have seemed glorious on the outside with great future ahead of him. Yet, an imminent crisis was already brewing beneath the surface. In just a few weeks time, his clan could be ruined in the blink of an eye.

Yan Liqiang was currently racing against time, wishing to defer or even defy the crisis that would strike him in two months and the first step in achieving this was to eliminate Wang Haofei.

Qi Donglai was the easiest target to kill. However, he was merely a lackey. Killing Qi Donglai wouldn’t do any good for now as it would inadvertently alert the enemy instead. Since the conflict between him and Qi Donglai was publicly known, if Qi Donglai were suddenly murdered without rhyme and reason, Yan Liqiang would be the primary suspect.

Ye Xiao, Mo Leng, and that goddamned officer, Ye Tiancheng, deserved to be murdered the most, yet they were also the hardest targets to kill. Mo Leng was extremely powerful. On the other hand, the depth of Ye Tiancheng’s strength was obscure and unknown. Yan Liqiang would have to plan and prepare well to just kill Ye Xiao alone, as he was always surrounded by a bunch of guards. Even Mo Leng was always by Ye Xiao’s side. It was definitely not easy to find an opportunity to murder Ye Xiao.

Therefore, killing Wang Haofei was the most pressing matter on hand and a choice which had the highest possibility of success. If he could kill Wang Haofei, then he would be nothing but an insignificant stranger to Ye Xiao and the others behind him for a very long period of time. With this amount of time in his hands, he would be able to progress into a Martial Warrior, thus changing everything.

However, it wouldn’t be so easy to kill Wang Haofei. Putting aside his strength which was almost on par with Yan Liqiang, as the outstanding youth among the younger generation of the Wang Clan in Huanglong County, Wang Haofei was also always in the company of two guards. Under such circumstances, it wouldn’t be possible for Yan Liqiang to kill him if he openly rushed up to him with his weapon. Hence, he had no choice but to come up with an alternative method.

If he had the Horned Python Bow in his hands, murdering Wang Haofei who wasn’t even a Martial Warrior wouldn’t be too much of an issue. However, Wang Haofei was always in Pingxi City and the Horned Python Bow was too big. Bringing the bow out would be akin to carrying a flag – too eye-catching and impossible to conceal even if he wanted to. There was no way he could hide his activities in Pingxi City this way. Therefore, he still had to think about another method to use to kill Wang Haofei.

Coming up with an alternative method might be very difficult to others, yet for Yan Liqiang, it was not a challenge. If the Horned Python Bow was too eye-catching, then all he had to do was to replace it with another less eye-catching object.

After completing his morning regime, Yan Liqiang went out and descended the mountain. At a small noodle stall in Wuyang Village, near the public road at the foot of the mountain, Yan Liqiang ate a bowl of noodles and then bought six steamed buns. He brought the buns which were wrapped with paper and returned to the small courtyard he was staying at.

On his way out and back, Yan Liqiang met quite a number of villagers living in Wuyang Village. These villagers had already started their busy days. Most of them were headed off to the fields on either side of the hill with their farming tools. Some elderly men pulled their cows and shepherded their goats to graze at the plains. The small roads in the village were extremely narrow. At most places, if someone was pulling their cow or donkey along, the other person would have to give way by leaning to the side of the road.

The roads in the village were dirt roads paved with a lot of stones. They were bumpy with a lot of weeds and trees along the sides. Some families also plowed small patches of vegetable fields on the empty lands in front and behind their houses. Balls of goat manure and turds of cow dung could be seen everywhere along the roads. There were also a few stray dogs running along the roads. This place was filled with rustic charm.

When the villagers saw an outsider like Yan Liqiang on the road, some of them took an extra glance at him with curiosity. However, these people already knew his identity. After all, Wuyang Village wasn’t that huge. News about properties being rented or sold in the village traveled very fast among the villagers.

“Did you see that? That’s the new student from the martial arts academy who just moved into the village...” Yan Liqiang could hear quite a number of tongues wagging behind his back along his journey.

When Yan Liqiang returned to his courtyard, he put away the steamed buns which would be his lunch and dinner. He took out the pile of items he had bought while he was buying his daily necessities yesterday and started working on his murder weapon.

Yan Liqiang set a goal for himself– he’d send Wang Haofei to hell before the end of the ninth lunar month...

The supplies that Yan Liqiang purchased the day before included things like mattresses, cutlery, three chicken feather brushes, twenty odd large sewing needles, a box of gum, a roll of paper, and a pair of scissors.

Nobody would ever think that these things could be made into weapons capable of taking human lives. But when Yan Liqiang returned to his small courtyard, he carried the pile of supplies he bought yesterday into a room on the first floor and began crafting his murder weapons with the items.

The handles of the three chicken feather brushes were made of golden bamboo. They were not thick; instead, were tough and long. Golden bamboo could only typically grow to as thick as a human’s thumb, with each of its nodes as long as sixty centimeters. The nodes of the golden bamboo were protected by a very thick and extremely tough layer of skin. Therefore, they were very hard to snap. The surface and the interior of the bamboo were smooth, making it the most ideal type of material for fishing rods or chicken feather brushes.

Yan Liqiang selected one of the chicken feather brushes first, then cut off both ends of the handle with a knife. With that, he immediately obtained a long, forty-centimeter hollow tube in his hands.

After shaving both ends of the bamboo tube and making sure that they were flat, Yan Liqiang blew air into the bamboo and studied the interior to make sure that it was indeed hollow. The inner wall of the bamboo tube was smooth, devoid of any foreign objects. In just less than three minutes, Yan Liqiang had completed the first component.

He then picked up a pair of scissors and cut a small piece of paper. He then rolled it into a cone-like shape and inserted a thick sewing needle at the cone’s tip with the point of the needle facing outwards. He then affixed the sewing needles to the conical-shaped paper roll and reinforced them by using gum and threads. With that, the second tool he needed was complete.

It took longer than the first one, but the second tool took less than five minutes to complete. Maybe it was troublesome to make, but the object that Yan Liqiang crafted looked like the pitot and radar attached to the front of a modern-day fighter jet. The part made of paper was the radar dome while the sewing needle was its pitot.

When all preparations were complete, Yan Liqiang headed out to test the firepower of his tools.

The courtyard was very spacious, and there was a pomegranate tree in the courtyard full of fruit. The fruits were next to worthless in the wild, and these pomegranates were one of the benefits that came with the house Yan Liqiang had rented – they were free of charge.

Yan Liqiang inserted the needle into the bamboo tube and stood fifteen meters away from the pomegranate tree. He raised the bamboo tube to his mouth, aimed it at the trunk of the pomegranate tree, and blew into the tube with force, sending the needle flying to the trunk of the tree. The needle, however, did not bury itself into the trunk and instead fell to the ground...

...

That was right, the object that Yan Liqiang made was a blowpipe. It was the simplest and most ancient hidden weapon that was the easiest to create and master. The weapon itself possessed unprecedented firepower as well.

In his previous life on Earth, no one even knew how long the history of the blowpipe was. A tiny projectile fired from a hollow tube could deal an unbelievable amount of damage to its victim. From the native tribes in the Amazonian rainforests to the special forces of multiple countries as well as assassins and hired killers, the blowpipe was a weapon that would never let its user down. It was a weapon that was very, very easy to craft, master, and operate.

Yan Liqiang witnessed with his own eyes what a new colleague at his company did to an aluminum can in the office with a pencil lead and a piece of A4 paper rolled into a tube reinforced with cellophane tape. A simple blow from fifteen meters away was enough for the pencil lead to pierce through the aluminum can.

Yan Liqiang was deeply impressed by the firepower of the blowpipe ever since. According to his colleague, his brother, who was a ranger, was able to subdue beasts such as lions, tigers and even elephants and rhinoceros by using a handmade blowpipe with projectiles laced with anesthetics. If the pencil lead were replaced with a sharper projectile fashioned from the spoke of a bicycle wheel and a longer pipe, the weapon would have no problem punching through a two-centimeter wooden plank or even shattering a beer bottle from twenty meters away.

Just the blow dart alone wouldn’t be able to inflict a wound deep enough to kill anyone. However, if the blow dart was laced with the poison of antiaris toxicaria, then killing someone with this weapon would be as easy as turning a hand. It would be impossible to effectively defend against it since the speed of the released projectile was not only high; it was also silent.

Using hidden weapons like throwing knives and spears would require at least three to five years time to make some progress. On the other hand, it would only take about three to five days to master the blowpipe technique.

...

Yan Liqiang wasn’t too satisfied with the first blowpipe. He thought the blow dart was a little shaky after it flew out for more than ten meters. He picked up the blow dart, made another one with some adjustments to the ratio of the exposed needle tip and the conical-shaped paper roll behind it, then tested it out again. After that, he picked it up again, made another blow dart and tested it again...

If the size of the fletching was too small, then he’d make it bigger. If it was too big, he’d cut it smaller... If the length of the exposed needle tip was too short, he’d make it longer for the next blow dart. If it was too long, he’d push it back in a little again... If it was a little too light, he’d coil some of the flaxen thread he bought at the end of the sewing needle to increase the overall weight... If it still didn’t seem right, then he’d keep shifting the position of the bobweight on the blow dart.

Yan Liqiang kept trying to determine the most ideal parameters for the blow dart as though he were conducting a scientific experiment in a laboratory. When it was nearly afternoon after he was busy working for the entire morning, he finally found the best parameters for the blow dart after repeating the experiment a few hundred times.

...

In the evening, when the sun was about to set, Yan Liqiang stood twenty meters away from that pomegranate tree in the courtyard. He loaded the blowpipe with the newly-crafted blow dart and took a deep breath. The pressure inside his expanded lungs instantly transformed into kinetic energy that then pushed the blow dart out of the blowpipe.

The blow dart which flew out of the blowpipe was akin to the launch of a mini rocket. At the same time, it also seemed like a bolt of lightning which was so small that it could easily go undetected. Even Yan Liqiang’s eye which had been staring at it wasn’t able to catch its trajectory in midair. The moment he blew into it, that blow dart almost immediately stuck itself to the tree trunk like a little black flower.

For the sake of achieving the most accurate and realistic result, Yan Liqiang had already dyed those yellow paper rolls into black for use.

He walked to the pomegranate tree and discovered that the tip of the blow dart had sunk more than two centimeters into the tree trunk. Like a nail which had been hammered into the tree, it had very securely pinned itself on it. He had to exert a little extra force on his fingers to pull it out.

After being occupied for nearly the entire day, Yan Liqiang’s face finally broke into a smile...

With such firepower, this would be enough to pierce through a few layers of clothes and make the target bleed as long as they were not wearing any armor.

Yan Liqiang crafted another ten blow darts which conformed to standard in one go for practice.

At night, Yan Liqiang continued practicing under the illumination of the moon and the stars. The accuracy of his blow dart was also rapidly improving.

After he had practiced enough, Yan Liqiang performed a round of his night regime – he cultivated three rounds of Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing before he called it a day.

...

The next day, on the 29th of the eighth lunar month, Yan Liqiang changed into a set of old clothes which he rarely wore after completing his morning regime. He deliberately covered his face with a bit of dirt, put on a hat, and found a useless and worn out burlap sack from the storage room of his rented house before he went out and left Wuyang Village.

He walked along the public road outside Wuyang Village for more than ten kilometers before he finally arrived at the biggest bazaar in the northern parts of Pingxi City.

The bazaar in the northern parts of Pingxi City mostly sold things like fur, leather, mountain products, and medicinal herbs. The sellers here were mostly hunters, herb gatherers, and peddlers that specialized in selling mountain products while the customers who usually came here were the staff or shop owners of medicinal stores and restaurants in Pingxi City. Many Pingxi City citizens also came to shop here for the things they would rarely buy on ordinary days because the mountain products were cheaper here.

As soon as the sun rose, the entire bazaar started to grow lively and bustled with activities.

Yan Liqiang walked around the bazaar and scanned the mountain products which were on sale there.

Among those mountain product peddlers, quite a number of them were selling snakes which had either been captured by the hunters or the herb gatherers from the mountains nearby. Quite a number of people in Pingxi City enjoyed the taste of snake meat, so some restaurants would serve various kinds of snake soups and snake dishes. Some medicinal stores also purchased snake guts and various snakes alive. Since such demands existed, there were also people who were willing to capture snakes for a cheap price.

There were more than ten species of snakes on sale. All of them were contained in a bamboo cage. Some were venomous, some weren’t venomous, and some were slightly venomous while some were highly venomous.

After touring for one round around the bazaar, he discovered that there wasn’t only one merchant selling the species of snake he needed, and it wasn’t rare for people to sell that kind of snake. So he finally walked to a stall which seemed to be doing well.

“Shopkeeper, how much for this black-ringed viper?” Yan Liqiang spoke to the seller with local Pingxi City accent.

The seller glanced at Yan Liqiang and replied, “The price of this snake is one mace and four candareens of silver. Little Brother, what do you plan to do with this snake? Are you going to eat it?”

“No, no, I can’t possibly afford to eat it. The medical prescription a physician gave me requires this black-ringed viper to treat my father’s eye condition...” Yan Liqiang gave the seller a troubled look. “A mace and four candareens of silver is too expensive, can you give me a little discount?”

When the seller heard Yan Liqiang’s explanation, he stopped questioning him. “Since Little Brother is so filial, I will reduce it to a mace and three candareens. ”

“That’s still too expensive, can you give it to me for a mace of silver?”

“A mace of silver? I’m going to make a loss...”

After bargaining with the seller, Yan Liqiang bought the black-ringed viper at the price of a mace and two candareens of silver. He picked up the bamboo cage which contained this snake and left the bazaar. When he was outside, he covered the bamboo cage with the burlap sack he brought with him and then took a big detour. After ensuring that no one was following him, he went to a river, washed his face, tidied himself up, and returned to Wuyang Village with the snake.

The black-ringed viper was an unusual venomous snake. The first time Yan Liqiang witnessed the might of this kind of snake venom was during one of the lessons at the martial arts academy last time. That day, the lecturing academy tutor specially brought a horse there for the experiment and obtained a sample of the venom from the fangs of a live, black-ringed viper. He then dipped the tip of a needle into the venom and pricked the horse with it.

The moment the horse was pricked by the needle, its body instantly stiffened along with its limbs before it loudly crashed onto the ground like a wooden carving that had been pushed over.

The venom of a black-ringed snake wasn’t fatal, but it would paralyze its opponents when it came into contact with their blood, immobilizing them. Compared to the ice ant which had bitten Yan Liqiang before, the paralyzing effect from the toxicity of the black-ringed viper was at least ten times more than that of an ice ant.

Of course, Yan Liqiang didn’t buy this snake for consumption or for its snake bile. Instead, he wanted its venom.

Yan Liqiang once again returned to Wuyang Village before lunchtime. After shutting the door upon returning to his small courtyard, Yan Liqiang went into his room, pinched the black-ringed viper at where its heart was, and took it out from the bamboo cage. He then retrieved a small porcelain bottle he bought the other day, pried open the black-ringed viper’s jaw, and pressed its venomous fangs against the rim of the porcelain bottle. Yan Liqiang exerted some force and the black-ringed viper’s venom was squeezed out of its poison glands, dripping from the sides of its fangs.

This black-ringed viper probably never had its venom extracted while alive. Hence, its venom reserve was extremely full and Yan Liqiang was able to squeeze many drops out of it in one go before the flow of its venom gradually slowed down.

Yan Liqiang put the snake back into its bamboo cage. Then he carefully wiped the snake venom he had collected in the bottle on the four blow darts he had created. After he applied a few layers and emptied the venom he had collected, he carefully stashed the blow darts away.

When he was done with all this, Yan Liqiang changed into a fresh set of clothes and then descended the mountain for a bowl of noodles. He returned with a couple of steamed buns that had he bought and then started practicing blowing darts.

When it came to cultivation, practical experience was much more effective than theories because practice makes perfect. The result of an hour’s worth of practice would be completely different than a day’s worth of practice. If one could practice up to ten days, the result would greatly vary.

Yan Liqiang was aware that he only had one chance in using his blow dart if he wished to kill Wang Haofei. If he messed up the first time, then it would be very difficult for him to find a second chance. Therefore, he had to ensure he wouldn’t mess up the only chance he got. If he didn’t wish to slip up, there was no other way than diligent practice.

The scorching sun hung above his head. Yan Liqiang’s mouth was dry and he was drenched in sweat. Even so, he still persevered in his practice.

He carried a wooden bucket full of water from the kitchen. If he was thirsty, he would scoop a bowl of water from the bucket and drink it. If he was hot, he would pour a bowl of water on his head.

Through constant practice, Yan Liqiang grew increasingly familiar with using the blow darts. Eventually, he seemed to become familiar with coordinated feeling between his mind and hand like he did when he first practiced archery every time he blew a dart. The accuracy of the blow darts he shot out also became increasingly high...

By evening when the clouds in the sky were tinged with sunset hues and Yan Liqiang had already lost count on how many practice rounds he had done, a red light emerged around him all of a sudden. Before he could even react, a strange, surging wave of force suddenly poured into his body from the crown of his head. The strange force that entered him instantly split into three inside his body. One of them rushed towards Yan Liqiang’s eyes, instantly causing an indescribable and pleasingly cool sensation in his eyes which felt as though someone with a high fever was suddenly doused in cool springwater. Another wave of force rushed to his hands, causing the tendons and veins of his hands to pulse irregularly as if they were electrocuted. The third wave enveloped his lungs and entire thoracic cavity, making Yan Liqiang feel as though his lungs were instantly cleared. At one point, Yan Liqiang almost felt as though his lungs had become bellows made of metal which wouldn’t be spoiled no matter how much they expanded...

The red light around him became increasingly intense. Slowly, the silhouette of a gigantic hornet manifested itself from the red light.

After awhile, the silhouette of that gigantic hornet suddenly went into Yan Liqiang’s body, wrapping itself around the energies in Yan Liqiang’s eyes, hands, and lungs before it gradually vanished.

Yan Liqiang was completely stunned. He simply couldn’t believe everything he had just experienced.

The red light which had just shone around him was exactly the same as his many experiences in attaining advancements in the realms of his cultivation techniques. This wasn’t a strange phenomenon. However, he wasn’t practicing any cultivation techniques just now. He was only blowing darts. Not only that, the silhouette of that hornet which had manifested in the red light was unseen and unheard of by Yan Liqiang. He had never heard of any cultivation technique advancement phenomena to include strange creatures like the hornet.

More importantly, when Yan Liqiang sensed the current state of his body, he realized that it felt very light and airy. It was a sensation that was hard to put into words.

The moment the silhouette of that hornet went inside Yan Liqiang’s body, Yan Liqiang suddenly felt his body growing lighter as though his weight was greatly reduced all of a sudden. Truth be told, Yan Liqiang had only experienced an improvement in his physical state from having the silhouette enter his body once and that was when he first passed the Horse Stance stage. He had crouched until the silhouette of a rhinodrake steed manifested itself. When the silhouette of that rhinodrake steed entered his body, Yan Liqiang felt an enormous amount of energy surge into his legs. When the silhouette of the hornet fused into his body just now, he felt the similar sensation as last time. He gained strength previously, but this time, he felt his body becoming more agile.

Not only that, Yan Liqiang also discovered that his eyes, hands, and lungs seemed to have undergone some changes.

When Yan Liqiang looked towards that pomegranate tree again, he suddenly seemed to be able to see it much clearer. Before this, his vision was akin to a pair of three megapixel camera. In just the blink of an eye, the three megapixel camera had instantly been upgraded into five megapixel camera. When he was staring at the pomegranate on the tree, it seemed as though he had instantly zoomed in on the pomegranate.

It was shocking to be able to experience such vision.

Yan Liqiang tried to fling his arm. He wasn’t sure why, but he could feel the speed of his arms significantly faster and more agile than usual. Compared to his current state, the state of his arms before felt as though all the joints weren’t lubricated, and his muscles were powerless while his tendons were not flexible.

Yan Liqiang quickly flung his arms about a few more times. The reflex speed and agility of his arms were simply too fast.

Then his lungs too. Yan Liqiang took a deep breath and realized that he could draw his breath longer and deeper...

What was happening?

The first of the ninth lunar month was the first day of lessons at Pingxi Prefecture Martial Arts Academy in the current term. This also meant that it was the first lesson the new students of the martial arts academy would attend and the venue was the huge classroom in the academy.

Apart from the old students, most of the new students had already arrived and filled the seats of the classroom, leaving only a few empty seats. The entire classroom was filled with excitement. All of the people were whispering to the people beside them rather excitedly while some couldn’t help but look everywhere. The sight before Yan Liqiang’s eyes was no different from those university students in lecture halls during their first day of lessons at the university.

Yan Liqiang still came even though he already knew the subject of the first lesson and had even ‘gone through’ it once.

There were almost no new students who didn’t attend the first lesson. Yan Liqiang didn’t wish to attract too much unnecessary attention either which is why he came. There was another important reason for it. Yan Liqiang had been clueless about everything that had happened to his body over these two days. Living in Wuyang Village, he couldn’t find anyone he could ask. Therefore, he was hoping that he could seize the opportunity to find an academy tutor and ask his question today.

Yan Liqiang held his student identity pass and entered the martial arts academy. By the time he arrived at the huge classroom, most of the seats were already taken.

“Yan Liqiang! Here! Here!”

While Yan Liqiang was scanning the surroundings, someone had already stood up from the last row of seats at the back of the classroom. He was yelling Yan Liqiang’s name and waving at him.

The person who stood up to greet Yan Liqiang was none other than Shi Dafeng.

Upon seeing Shi Dafeng’s face brimming with enthusiasm, a mysterious warmth filled Yan Liqiang’s heart. He smiled at Shi Dafeng, then made his way towards him.

Due to the incident from last time, Shi Dafeng furiously ripped the announcement that the academy had published. He simply couldn’t believe the words which tarnished Yan Liqiang’s reputation. In the end, he was forced to withdraw from the martial arts academy, so he ended his studies in advance and was later sent elsewhere by his father.

Yan Liqiang might not have a lot of friends, but Shi Dafeng definitely counted as one. Passionate, loyal, and responsible; that was who Shi Dafeng was.

“So he’s the first among the top three in Qinghe County’s Martial Arts County Trial...”

“Wow, so young. He’s probably fourteen or fifteen years old at most...”

Due to Shi Dafeng’s yells, many people in the classroom spontaneously directed their gazes on Yan Liqiang in unison. The lively classroom instantly quieted down for a moment. As newcomers at the Pingxi Prefecture Martial Arts Academy, many new students paid a lot of attention to the top three new students from different counties. Although Yan Liqiang hadn’t appeared at the academy over the past few days, his reputation had already spread like wildfire.

As the youngest amongst the top three new students, it was difficult for Yan Liqiang to avoid the attention.

Under the scrutiny of many gazes, Yan Liqiang walked to the row Shi Dafeng was sitting in.

Shen Teng was also seated beside Shi Dafeng. There was still another seat on the other side of Shi Dafeng, so Yan Liqiang went over there.

Previously, Yan Liqiang came to this lesson with Shi Dafeng, so they sat together. When Shen Teng came, he sat a few rows away from them. However this time, the seating arrangement for three of them had completely changed and they were gathered together again.

“It’s been a few months. You seem to have made progress in your cultivation again, Liqiang. How admirable!” Shen Teng, who lacked youthful vigor, turned his head to face Yan Liqiang and greeted him with a smile.

Unlike Shi Dafeng who was passionate and outspoken, Shen Teng was always elegant, poised, gentle, and refined. One would have a favorable impression of him after they exchanged a few conversations with him. Yan Liqiang had some fortuitous encounters these few days, so his physical state was at its peak. Naturally, his complexion was quite different than before and it didn’t escape Shen Teng’s keen observation.

Yan Liqiang’s heart was thumped and raced wildly for a moment. After his senses told him that there was no way for Shen Teng to know what was going on with him, and that his words were most likely praises and courtesy, Yan Liqiang smiled. “Please don’t ridicule me, Brother Shen. My menial improvement over these two months is nothing like Brother Shen’s. If we are going to spar next time, please go easy on me!”

“To be honest Liqiang, since you suddenly appeared and snatched the first position among top three, squeezing me into the second position. I have indeed been forced by my uncle to shut myself in and cultivate painstakingly. I thought initially that I would be able to relax for two months after the martial arts examination and do something I enjoyed, but I didn’t expect my plans to be ruined because of this...” Shen Teng sighed and said miserably.

“Fine, fine, let’s leave the past behind. Who cares about which position in the top three as long as we tried our best with no regrets? What good will come out of harping about it?” Shi Dafeng interrupted Shen Teng then looked at Yan Liqiang. “I’ve been searching for you for these two days...”

“Oh, why were you looking for me, Brother Shi?”

“I wanted to ask if you found a place to stay. Out of all of Qinghe County, I think I hit it off the best with you and Shen Teng and we can get along well. These few years in martial arts academy will be fun if the three of us can stay together. We can cultivate together, supervise each other, and spar together...” Shi Dafeng chuckled.

Yan Liqiang gave him an apologetic smile. Before he relieved himself of his crisis, he didn’t wish to involve anyone whom he considered a friend. “Well... I’m really sorry. I’ve already found somewhere to stay outside the city!”

“Oh, you’re not staying in Three Yuan Street too?” Shi Dafeng asked in great disappointment. “The courtyard beside the house I rented is still empty. Never mind that Shen Teng is not living anywhere near the martial arts academy, why did you have to go so far too, Liqiang!?”

“Well first, it’s very peaceful there and it’s convenient for cultivating. Second, it’s cost-effective. Renting a courtyard on Three Yuan Street for three months is probably enough for me to stay outside the city for a year!”

“Where are you staying, Liqiang?”

“In one of the villages near the public road, east of Pingxi City...” Yan Liqiang replied vaguely. There were more than ten villages on that side of the public road that was east of Pingxi City. With this reply, it was enough that he had given Shen Teng and Shi Dafeng a vague idea about where he lived.

Qi Donglai was seated in front of Yan Liqiang, in the nine o’clock direction. He was only ten meters away from Yan Liqiang. Yan Liqiang cast a glance at Qi Donglai and realized that he appeared to be very relaxed, leaning against the back of the chair as far as he could. However, his ears were probably already perked up since long ago.

Looking at Qi Donglai, Yan Liqiang secretly and coldly sneered.

Yan Liqiang got the worst of it last time for not taking Qi Donglai seriously. This time, he would definitely not repeat the same mistake again.

The trio who had not seen each other for a long time managed to chat for a while before the academy tutor for the first lesson arrived.

The person who entered was an old man who had an air of arrogance around him and a rather stern expression. After coming in, he stood on the platform and clasped his hands behind his back. He lifted his chin slightly and looked down at the bunch of new students. The entire classroom instantly grew quiet.

“The Horse Stance is the result of hard work and persistence over time. Do not be lazy, and make sure your tendons are taut when you assume the Horse Stance!” This was the first sentence the old man said after the classroom went completely silent.

When he saw a number of students being drawn to his words with thoughtful looks on their faces, he spoke again. “You need to be able to hold the stance until you can maintain your entire body in a relaxed manner along with a peaceful state of mind. Only with a relaxed body and tranquil mind will you be close to passing the Horse Stance stage.”

His two sentences caused all the student’s attention to be focused on him. The classroom was so silent all of the sudden that one could hear a pin drop.

Seeing so many students around him with their full attention on the old man as they waited for him to continue, Yan Liqiang could only smile wryly in his heart. That was because he knew that the first lesson from this old man would end with another final sentence.

And as expected...

“I will not be coming in for future Horse Stance lessons. This skill will only succeed through practice and not words. My words will not do any good. Go on and practice it independently, spend a few years time. You will achieve a great outcome if you can endure the hardship. That’s all, you are dismissed!”

After finishing that sentence, the old man lifted up the hem of his robe, turned around, and exited the classroom. The students in the classroom looked at each other in dismay, unable to believe that their first lesson at the Pingxi Prefecture Martial Arts Academy had ended just like that because it only lasted for less than three minutes...

“Damn, so that’s the end of it...?” Shi Dafeng had a look of disbelief...

The classroom was silent for about half a minute. After seeing that the old man wasn’t coming in again, everyone in the classroom only realized that the first lesson had indeed already ended.

The new students in the classroom were then in an uproar...

“Who was that damned old man?”

“No idea, but he seems to be very strong..”

“He seems to have some very impressive knowledge, but he didn’t share all of it...”

The new students broke into discussions.

“Liqiang, let’s have lunch together!” Shi Dafeng invited Yan Liqiang.

“Brother Shi, I have something to do in the afternoon. I’ll pass this time...” Yan Liqiang gave Shi Dafeng and Shen Teng a smile before he stood up and quickly made his way to the exit of the classroom.

“What about you?” Shi Dafeng looked at Shen Teng. Shen Teng looked at Yan Liqiang with unswerving determination. “I can’t slack either. I need to get back to my training...”

“Damn, that makes me sound like I’m here to have fun!”

...

Ignoring the noise in the classroom behind him, Yan Liqiang exited the classroom and looked around the path outside. When he spotted the old man who was leaving martial arts academy and making his way to the foot of the mountain, he quickly chased after him.

“Sir...!”

The old man stopped when he heard Yan Liqiang’s voice and turned around to look at him. He sized up Yan Liqiang seriously. After realizing that the clothes Yan Liqiang wore was just of ordinary quality and he didn’t seem like some noble young lord either, that old man’s face was instantly filled with arrogance. The expression on his face became stern once again. “I’ve already said what I needed to say. The rest will depend on your own diligence in practice. Anything you don’t understand, you may sign yourself up to study at the Dragon Flag Dojo!”

Song Tianhao, the dojo master of Dragon Flag Dojo, was a famous person in Pingxi City. With his capability which helped many to pass the Horse Stance stage through the Essence Unifying Post secret technique and concocting Essence Nurturing Pills, the business of his small dojo thrived and many people in Pingxi Prefecture sought his help. Aside from the secret techniques of Essence Unifying Post and Essence Nurturing Pills, there were another three reasons behind Dojo Master Song’s fame. First, he was avaricious and worshipped wealth like his life. Using the money he earned from running his dojo, he bought quite a bit of land in Pingxi City and ran different businesses. It could be said that he was a rich and powerful person in the region.

Apart from being avaricious, the second reason which made Dojo Master Song a hot topic among others was the fact that he had eighteen wives. His youngest wife, which he just married last year, had only turned eighteen this year. The third label Dojo Master Song had on him was not a positive one in many people’s eyes. Many claimed that he was a snob...

“Sir, I have already passed the Horse Stance stage. But I still have a question in mind. When you mentioned the Horse Stance today, I suddenly recalled something which I wish to ask you...” Yan Liqiang scratched his head and acted like he was an obedient student.

Song Tianhao was slightly taken aback upon hearing that Yan Liqiang had passed Horse Stance stage. He thought about Yan Liqiang’s age before he softened the tone of his voice. “What is it?”

“After passing the Horse Stance stage, I realized that my body can receive the Spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth’s blessing which significantly enhanced my strength by the strength of one horse. I asked around and most people told me that passing the Horse Stance stage is the only chance a person can receive the Spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth’s blessing. From that point onwards, no matter what technique one cultivates or how many stages one passes, one can only resonate with the Spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth to allow the cultivation technique’s phenomena to emerge but they cannot receive the blessing of the Spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth. I wonder if this is really true?”

“Yes, of course.” Song Tianhao replied emotionlessly.

“Oh. Is there no other exception? Are there any cultivation techniques from which I can obtain the blessing from the Spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth upon passing it...?”

“Of course there are exceptions. But you can forget about those other ‘exceptions’.” Song Tianhao casted Yan Liqiang a glance and spoke with a slightly mocking tone.

“Why?” Yan Liqiang deliberately made an unconvinced expression. “If others can do it, why can’t I? I’m sure you know the saying, ‘don’t discriminate a poor young man’ [1], Sir!”

“HAHAHAHA!!” Song Tianhao roared with laughter, seemingly amused by Yan Liqiang. “It may be possible to use the saying, ‘don’t discriminate a poor young man’ somewhere else, but not here. If we do, then we truly do not know the immensity of Heaven and Earth. Do you know what kind of people are these ‘exceptions’?”

“What kind of people are they?”

“People who can once again obtain the Spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth’s blessings after passing the Horse Stance stage are the founding fathers of various sects, secret techniques, and battle techniques.” Song Tianhao had a look of reverence on his face. “These founders are the people who open up the way of cultivation and comprehend the Great Dao. When they first create an unprecedented secret technique or battle technique, they would resonate with the Heaven and the Earth and gain their approval, thus obtaining the Spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth’s blessings when passing the stage or advancing onwards. This blessing is known as Heavenly Bestowment. Heavenly Bestowments may vary, depending on the different secret techniques or battle techniques. The highest number of realms a secret battle technique may possess is already decided the moment these founders create them. The maximum number of Heavenly Bestowments these founders can obtain when they establish it will be the highest realm to his secret battle technique. This is how the realms of various battle techniques came about and are what the later generations can only imitate. Figures who can enjoy Heavenly Bestowments like founding fathers haven’t appeared in the entire Great Han Empire for a few centuries. They don’t even exist among the four major sects. What makes you think you can compete with these founding fathers who have obtained Heavenly Bestowments?”

“Oh, I see. Thank you for enlightening me, Sir!”

“Young man, do not overestimate yourself just because you have passed the Horse Stance stage. Cultivate diligently from now on and strive to become a Martial Warrior. It is much more sensible to aim to get some high-grade conferred fields which can support your family...” Song Tianhao glanced at Yan Liqiang for one last time and left after passing on his final piece of advice.

Yan Liqiang watched the Song Tianhao’s disappearing silhouette and swallowed a mouthful of saliva. Although he seemed calm on the surface, his heart was already racing like crazy. Blood rushed to his head, causing Yan Liqiang to suddenly feel a little dizzy.

Did no one ever think about the possibilities of creating things like blow darts in the Silver Continent? Although the blow darts he made seemed a little wretched and sinister, he was actually the first to create it in Silver Continent...

It was him... He had actually become a founder who could receive the Heavenly Infusion– the founder of blow darts! He had actually blown his way to his title of a founder as well as Heavenly Infusion with his mouth [2]!

As expected... His mouth was indeed unrivaled!

For Yan Liqiang, this feeling of inadvertently becoming the Silver Continent’s blow dart founder was utterly the same as someone who was down to their last dollar and winning the lottery with it, sweeping the jackpot.

On the way back from the martial arts academy to Wuyang Village, Yan Liqiang’s felt like his entire person was completely on cloud nine, his head spinning enough to make him dizzy. The phrase ‘Heavenly Bestowment’ made his little heartbeat in excitement the entire way back.

According to what Dojo Master Song said, the number of times the founder of any battle technique or secret technique received the Heavenly Bestowment was that battle technique or secret technique’s highest level. For example, if they were cultivating the Tiger Roaring Consecutive Fist technique, the highest realm of this fist technique was only the fifth layer. That is to say, the founder of this fist technique had received five Heavenly Bestowments. Another example was the Nine Palace Wind Shadow Steps– the highest realm was the sixth layer, which meant that the founder of this step had, in total, received six Heavenly Bestowments.

As for those even higher-leveled secret techniques and battle techniques, it was due to the high number of times that the founders received the Heavenly Bestowments and it was also why those people were so formidable as founding fathers. For every Heavenly Bestowment received, it meant that they were given an extra opportunity to increase their power level. The extra opportunities they had were the reasons why each of those founding fathers was able to rise above others to distinguish themselves and become heroes for the entire Silver Continent to look up to.

How many realms would this blow dart technique reach? Yan Liqiang didn’t know. All he knew was that if he wanted to change his fate, to avoid those tragic issues in the future, then he had to grasp this opportunity before him....

Yan Liqiang returned to Wuyang Village at noon. After eating a bowl of noodles and buying a few steamed buns, Yan Liqiang returned to his own little yard. He grabbed his handmade blow dart and went up the mountain to find a place to practice.

After passing through the first realm in blow dart techniques, Yan Liqiang’s lung capacity underwent a major upgrade. No matter if it was breathing air in or breathing air out, it would have a longer duration, especially when he was expelling air: his lung strength was explosive. This meant that any blow dart he blew out would able to reach further distances. With tremendous power, it could even travel farther than twenty-five meters. He wouldn’t be able to improve with the length of his small yard, so he went up the mountain by himself to find a place to practice.

The area behind the hill that Wuyang Village was on was a mass grave. Therefore, if you stood on the top of the hill, you could see the side that had all the mass graves. Even during daytime, the villagers who chopped firewood or tended to livestock were unwilling to get close. In addition to the thick woodlands on the hilltop, wild grass grew everywhere. It was the perfect place to practice blow darts.

...

After merely one day, on the second day of the ninth lunar month, upon the hidden section of that small hilltop, Yan Liqiang once again was surrounded by red light and he accepted the second Heavenly Bestowment...

Four days later, on the sixth day of the ninth lunar month, the third Heavenly Bestowment came as expected.....

...

On the seventh day of the ninth lunar month, Yan Liqiang woke up early. After he finished his morning regime and ate breakfast at the small noodle shop, he retreated back to his small courtyard.

Yan Liqiang did not practice after he returned to his courtyard. Instead, he brought out the black-ringed viper that he bought and milked it again for snake venom. Then he spread the viper venom once again over the blow darts that he had made, maintaining the poisonous effects.

After the snake venom on the blow dart was dry, one could see that the needle head that poked out from the dart would have an extra blue-black layer that would faintly shine under the light.

Out of cautiousness, Yan Liqiang had already tested the black-ringed viper’s venom a couple of days ago on a wild boar in the forest on the hilltop. The boar had only been pricked slightly by the dart that he had blown and its body ended up being paralyzed for the entire night. It only recovered the ability to move the next day.

After milking the snake for venom, Yan Liqiang went up the hill and let the black-ringed viper go. He only brought back the bamboo cage and burned it to ashes right there in the small courtyard’s kitchen, destroying all the evidence.

Following that, he used waterproof oilcloth to wrap up his pre-prepared blowpipe and blow darts, securing them in several layers of material. After wrapping it all up, he placed it along with a change of clothes and a dagger into the leather luggage bag he carried along with him to Pingxi City. After he carefully tidied up everything, he picked up the luggage and left Wuyang Village, heading into Pingxi City.

Yan Liqiang did not go to the martial arts academy; instead, he headed straight to the Plum Gardens within Pingxi City and wandered through.

The Plum Gardens were a sacred place within Pingxi City. It was close to the Lake of Longevity and within the Plum Gardens, the flourishing flowers were like cotton, and there were waterside pavilions everywhere. It was an extremely elegant place within Pingxi City, and many of the young men and women within the city, namely the poets and artists, all loved to walk through here. Of course, the cost of things in the Plum Gardens were also exorbitantly high; normal people definitely could not afford anything. The most they could do was stroll through and admire the plum flowers and scenery....

After wandering through the Plum Gardens once and checking every place that he needed to, Yan Liqiang walked out of the Plum Gardens and arrived at the large street on the other side of the Lake of Longevity.

There were inns and restaurants on either side of this large street and this was also a popular area within Pingxi City. Yan Liqiang wandered up and down this street twice and at noon, he had lunch before he walked straight into an inn on the side of the street called Vista Paradiso.

“Welcome, welcome. Are you here to book a room or to take a meal, sir? Our inn’s fish is guaranteed to be fresh, all caught from the Lake of Longevity...” After Yan Liqiang walked in, the inn’s waiter greeted him with a smile on his face.

“I’m here for a room. Do you have any rooms with a private entrance that is close to the lake?”

“Yes, yes, yes, of course we do. The small yard that is close to the lake is not only serene, you can also admire the Lake of Longevity’s picturesque scenery, especially at night when the lights from the Plum Gardens on the other side reflects across the lake. It’ll look like the sky and water have become one, and you can see it clearly from here. It definitely sets it apart from the norm, and it can be considered the best in Pingxi City. I’m not just boasting this, but along the entire edge of the Lake of Longevity, there are hundreds of inns with different rooms, and it’s only ours that stands out from the rest. It is the best and it lets people get a feel for the lake’s beautiful view. It’s only that the price for the rooms along the lake is slightly more expensive than a normal room and they require eight candareens of silver a night. But this isn’t that expensive – it’s our off-season pricing. During the peak season, the price will be at least one mace and one candareen of silver...”

Yan Liqiang pretended that money was no problem. “Yes, if it’s eight candareens of silver, then it’s eight candareens of silver. I heard that the view here at night is very good, so I came to experience it. Take me to have a look at the rooms...”

“Of course, please come with me, Sir....”

The waiter of the inn led Yan Liqiang to have a look at a couple of rooms that were located along the lake. Yan Liqiang picked one of the rooms and happily paid the money. He settling into the room and waited for nightfall...

In the afternoon, Yan Liqiang took a long, luxurious nap in his room within the Vista Paradiso inn to conserve his strength. After waking up, he practiced Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing twice in his room and then like a normal guest, he left the inn and wandered once around the streets and markets. He only returned to the inn after eating dinner as the night was about to fall.

After returning to his room, Yan Liqiang stood in front of the window, looking out towards the clear, gleaming reflection of the Lake of Longevity, patiently waiting for the sky to completely darken.

After an hour, the sky was completely dark, and Yan Liqiang faced the other side of the Lake of Longevity. The Plum Gardens were about a thousand or so meters out and it was at this time that the many pavilions within the Plum Gardens started lighting up with rows of lanterns. Looking from afar, the clear, gleaming lake reflected the multicolored and multi-shaped lanterns upside down, making it seem like it was truly something out of the norm.

It was then that Yan Liqiang finally moved. He pulled out his leather bag, took out the dagger, and cut through a piece of material inside the leather bag. He pulled out a mask that was in between the layers of the leather bag.

That mask was the one that King Cobra had used. After he wore this mask to destroy the Hong family, Yan Liqiang had carefully packed it away. He originally thought that he would not have much use for it in the future, but he didn’t expect to use it in Pingxi City this time. Not long after its last use, it would again be time for King Cobra to rise and make a disturbance again.

Yan Liqiang carefully put the mask on his face in the room. After a mere moment’s effort, King Cobra appeared in the room with an icy expression, slanted eyes, and a visible black beauty mark on his left cheek.

After changing, Yan Liqiang took off all of his clothes in his room. Wearing only a pair of shorts, he hung the blow darts that were wrapped in a waterproof oilcloth on his body with a thin string. He picked up the dagger, and after making certain that there was no one around paying him any attention, Yan Liqiang quietly opened the back window of his room and climbed outside.

The window was over two meters from the ground and just beneath the window were two rock embankments that were each a foot wide. Next to the embankments was the Lake of Longevity. If one stood beneath the window, one could hear the sound of people eating and drinking from the nearby restaurants as well as the sound of the lake lapping gently against the embankment.

Yan Liqiang took a deep breath and then slid into the water without a ripple, just like an eel. He then dove headfirst into the water, swimming underwater towards the dimly lit Plum Gardens in the distance.

In his previous life, one of Yan Liqiang’s favorite sports was swimming and snorkeling. Even though his swimming and snorkeling standard wasn’t quite at the professional competition level, within the amateur crowd, he was one of the best.

In his previous life, Yan Liqiang could swim out over forty meters on one breath of air. However, today, when Yan Liqiang raised his head above the water for a breath, he was already two hundred meters out...

After training, his powerful legs and arms let him move faster in the water, and after three heavenly possessions, his lungs made him feel like a fish in water. The amount of time he could spend underwater with each breath surprised even Yan Liqiang himself.

The night wind blew across the Lake of Longevity, raising little waves. However, these waves did not affect Yan Liqiang at all as he sped through the water; in fact, because of these waves, Yan Liqiang was even less likely to be seen when he raised his head above water for a breath. On a night like this, unless someone was within ten meters, if anyone saw Yan Liqiang’s head pop up from the lake, they wouldn’t think it was a person. Rather, they would have mistaken his head for a fish or a turtle in the Lake of Longevity.

After using about ten or so minutes, Yan Liqiang only came up to breathe less than ten times and was already about across the Lake of Longevity. He had reached the waters of the Plum Gardens.

...

Within the Plum Gardens, near the Lake of Longevity, there was a four-story-high turreted loft. At this time, the loft was brightly lit and filled with people. From within the loft, there was the sound of traditional instruments as well as the mellow sound of female voices. From time to time, there was also the sound of cheers coming from the entire room. This was the busiest place in the Plum Gardens: the Plum Gardens Theater. It was the place in Pingxi City where all the famous actors, actresses, martial arts specialists, as well as all the theater groups came to perform a few times each night.

In this entertainment-deprived age, watching theater performances had become the biggest recreational activity for many people. The performances and plays within the Plum Gardens Theater made even the richest men in Pingxi City rush for tickets. The theater was packed every night with hardly a seat to spare.

“Oh, Manager Li, you’ve arrived. My manager kept your reserved seat for you. You’re so late tonight, the performance of”Taming of the Princess” started over a quarter of an hour ago...” Out at the entrance of the Plum Gardens Theater, the doorman greeted a portly man with his face wreathed in smiles. The man was walking over while chewing on a big meat bun.

“You don’t say. I closed the shop just now, and came here straight away without dinner just to catch the show. I didn’t expect for my cart to break down along the way, which delayed me a bit. Quick, take me inside. From what I can hear, that voice, Little Yulian has already come out, right...” The portly man walked toward the entrance whilst stuffing the rest of the bun hastily inside his mouth.

“She’s already onstage...”

“Then hurry...” the man said, not even bothering to continue eating the bun in his hand. There was still a bit left which was about half the size of a palm, so he casually threw it into the nearby lake and wiped his mouth and walked into the theater.

Splash. As Yan Liqiang was listening to the conversation above, that half-palm sized bun landed squarely in the water not even half a meter away from where he was. Droplets of water splashed upwards, and some even hit Yan Liqiang on the face, briefly scaring him.

At this point in time, Yan Liqiang had already arrived beneath the pier next to the theater. Next to him were stone support struts that stood in the water. The bridge part of the pier stretched above and across. His current position was a blind spot for anyone that was standing above.

Yan Liqiang stayed in the water, unmoving, not even breathing, until he figured out that the thing that had been thrown in the water was merely half a bun. He only let out a breath after he realized that no one had discovered him – damn!

The half-bun floated on the surface of the water, bobbing up and down with the waves. Yan Liqiang waited until there were no more sounds from above before he followed the curve of the pier, submerging himself and swimming towards a small island about one hundred meters away from the Plum Gardens Theater.

That small island was only about one-fifteenth of a hectare big. On the island, there was only one pergola which was surrounded by trees and rocks, containing the heavy scent of flowers. In the middle of the night, this was an unexpectedly quiet location.

Yan Liqiang remained beneath the pier in the water, unmoving, waiting silently.

Lu Beixin and Wang Haofei had been in contact with each other for about half a year. Within this timeframe, as a woman in love, as long as she was in Pingxi City, Lu Beixin would come to the Plum Gardens on the seventh, fourteenth, twenty-first, and twenty-eighth days of the month. She’d use the excuse of going to the theater, to clandestinely meet with Wang Haofei.

This was something that Yan Liqiang discovered only after his ‘last death’. Today was coincidentally the seventh of the month. If everything went according to plan, and if Wang Haofei still didn’t know that Lu Beixin was forbidden to go out by the Lu family, then Wang Haofei would definitely come here to meet Lu Beixin tonight. It was the perfect opportunity to kill Wang Haofei.

Yan Liqiang didn’t really know if Wang Haofei would really come, but either way, it was still a chance and it was worth a try. If it didn’t succeed, then he would make other plans.

After approximately thirty minutes, the sound of footsteps sounded above Yan Liqiang’s head. Listening to it, he determined that there was one person in front, two people behind: in total, three people.

“Alright, the two of you can wait over there. If other members of the Lu family are lured here tonight, then the two of you will follow the plan. You know what to do right?”

This voice was one that Yan Liqiang would recognize in his very dreams. It was that bastard Wang Haofei’s voice.

Hearing the sound of this voice, Yan Liqiang, who was still in the water, suddenly found himself energized.

Feeling that there was no one nearby and whatever he said would go unheard, Wang Haofei’s words held an indescribable tone and was slightly hard and cold.

“Yes, don’t worry Sir, we know what to do!” The two guards responded in a rough tone. “Today this Forgotten Sorrow Pergola has been occupied by our young master. If other members of the Lu family are lured here, then we’ll block them and not let them step onto the pier...”

“I’ll go and row the small boat over. We’ll get that Lu woman to sit on the small boat and then take her to Mingquan Courtyard. Wang Fu has already prepared everything over there. Tonight, we definitely won’t let that woman escape your grasp, Young Master...”

“Good, if nothing goes wrong tonight, then it’ll be the last night. If your performances are good, then when we go back I’ll ask my father to handsomely reward you both...”

“Thank you, Sir!”

“Go, stay sharp. Oh, right, get someone to remove all the incense burners from this island. You need to change it to green sandalwood, that woman doesn’t like any other scents...”

“Yes!”

The sound of the two guards’ footsteps faded even as Wang Haofei stepped onto the island.

Yan Liqiang silently drew in a breath when he heard this conversation in the water from below. Listening to what Wang Haofei meant, he had prepared a trap here tonight – Wang Haofei was to meet Lu Beixin here and then deliberately lure people from the Lu family here as well. Under those circumstances, Lu Beixin would definitely be worried and she would not want to face them here. Wang Haofei would then organize for the little boat to take Lu Beixin away from here to avoid having her meet anyone from the Lu family. If Lu Beixin got on the boat, she would be taken to Mingquan Courtyard and be at their mercy...

It was good that old man Lu had forbidden Lu Beixin from leaving. If Lu Beixin actually did come out, then what would happen to her after tonight would be hard to predict.

Not even a minute after, while Yan Liqiang was still in the water, the soft sound of a guqin could be heard from the pergola on that little island...

Listening to the sound of the guqin, Yan Liqiang’s eyes grew colder and colder...

...

Yan Liqiang once again submerged under the water. After going half a round under the bridge and reaching the rear of the small isle, he quietly surfaced out of the water.

Looking at the isle from the water surface, he could only see the green glazed roof tiles at the top of the pavilion behind the shade of those willow trees.

The melody of a guqin reverberated through the night from that pavilion. Just by hearing the melodies of the guqin alone, no one could have guessed the person playing it was a scum who was worse than an animal.

This isle was indeed a great spot, especially at night when it was filled with an air of romance, accompanied by the moon, water, flowers, and trees. No wonder Wang Haofei and Lu Beixin chose this place for their weekly meeting.

There were semi-circular stone steps on the isle, by the lakeside, which extended into the lake. Beside the steps was a wooden platform where a small boat could dock. The ripples in the lake made soft sounds as they crashed against the stone steps by the lakeside. Yan Liqiang slowly inched to the shore along with the ripples.

Yan Liqiang crouched in the water, by the stone steps. He took out the oilcloth bundle he had on him and held it above the water surface. Breaking off the rope which was tied around the oilcloth bundle with his teeth, he gently opened the bundle and retrieved the complete set of blow darts from within. After examining the blow dart once and ensuring that it wasn’t damp, he got up quietly to the isle, barefooted with the blow dart in hand.

If Wang Haofei was an expert or a Martial Master, Yan Liqiang wouldn’t be certain if his movements would be detected by him. However, through the last time he fought with Wang Haofei, he discovered that although Wang Haofei’s strength wasn’t bad among the youths, he still wasn’t much stronger than Yan Liqiang. This encouraged Yan Liqiang to become gutsier.

In the dark night, Yan Liqiang was like a water ghost who had crept up from the water. Bare naked with a blow dart in hand, he silently went behind a thicket of willow trees and drew nearer to the pavilion.

After tiptoeing his way past a few willow trees, Yan Liqiang spotted Wang Haofei.

A few lights were lit inside the pavilion. Wang Hao Fei sat upright and still in the middle of the pavilion as he played the guqin on the platform before him with full concentration.

Wang Haofei’s original demeanor had been quite decent and he had a striking appearance. In addition to the fitting lavish sapphire blue long gown he wore, the sight of him playing his guqin in the dimly lit pavilion on the isle in the middle of the lake before Yan Liqiang was enough to make a bunch of little schoolgirls scream in his previous life.

In contrast, all Yan Liqiang wore was only a dripping wet underwear. Together with King Cobra’s evil face mask and the black blowpipe in his hands, the way he hid behind a willow tree and peeked at Wang Haofei became indescribably sinister. If there was a powerful hero here and saw both of them, there was no doubt he would immediately come for Yan Liqiang with his sword without a second thought.

Wang Haofei was completely oblivious to the impending danger. Even if he had ten more brains, he wouldn’t have known. Why would someone he had never known or even seen before, be plotting on taking his life at this moment?

At this moment, Yan Liqiang wasn’t bothered about it being wretched as long as it was effective. He squinted at Wang Haofei a few times, then lifted his black blowpipe to his lips and launched a blow dart at Wang Haofei, who was about twenty meters away.

The black blow dart was like a tiny black flower which flew out from the blowpipe and blended into the darkness of the night. With a speed so fast that it wasn’t even visible to the naked eye, it bloomed on Wang Haofei’s neck, right behind his ear. There was a meridian in the human body at that spot so it would spread the venom on the dart in the shortest amount of time.

The melody of the guqin came to a halt as Wang Haofei instantly stiffened like a stone sculpture, suddenly unable to move a muscle.

The moment the guqin melody stopped, Yan Liqiang quickly dashed towards the pavilion with the speed of a cheetah. His feet carried him over the distance of twenty meters and with a leap, he jumped inside the pavilion and revealed himself before Wang Haofei.

Wang Haofei was already immobile and couldn’t speak, but his eyes could still see Yan Liqiang, who had appeared before him. A look of extreme shock and terror filled his eyes. He seemed to be trying to say something, yet he only managed to slightly open his mouth wordlessly.

“Trash!” Yan Liqiang spat softly. Without any hesitation, he moved behind Wang Haofei and reached out to grab his head with both of his hands. Twisting it forcefully, he broke Wang Haofei’s neck with a snap. His head was twisted nearly 180 degrees before it hung limply.

Next, Yan Liqiang pulled the dart out from behind Wang Haofei’s ear and quickly stowed it away. The spot which had previously been pierced by the blow dart was only left with a red dot which was as tiny as a mosquito bite. On the red dot was half a drop of fresh blood.

After Yan Liqiang wiped the blood away with his finger, that red dot behind Wang Haofei’s ear was barely noticeable.

Yan Liqiang, who had just killed Wang Haofei didn’t leave straight away but waited instead. He was wearing King Cobra’s face mask to commit the murder this time, it would be completely meaningless if he left without being seen. He needed someone to witness the fact that it was the ruthless King Cobra who had murdered Wang Haofei of the Wang Clan from Huanglong County. Only then would his following plans be able to unfold.

The reactions of the two guards accompanying Wang Haofei were indeed very slow. The halt of the guqin melody didn’t mean anything to them, they probably thought Wang Haofei merely got bored so they never came to check up on him.

Yan Liqiang waited for about three minutes before he searched Wang Haofei’s corpse and found a money pouch. By then, he spotted two delicate ladies coming to the isle with incense burners.

When those girls arrived at the pavilion, Yan Liqiang unsheathed the sword Wang Haofei left on the table. Changing his tone of voice, he bellowed in a low voice. “EAT THIS AND DIE!”

The sword directly impaled Wang Haofei’s heart, nailing him to the back of the chair he was sitting on. He was so dead that he couldn’t be even more dead.

“AHHHHHHHHHH!!!” The expected screams of the ladies and the sounds of their incense burners crashing to the ground were heard from behind.

Yan Liqiang abruptly turned his head around and shot the two ladies a fierce glare. After ensuring that those ladies had taken a clear look at his face under the light in the pavilion, he fled from the pavilion with lightning speed to the lakeside and dived into the lake headfirst...

By the time the two guards accompanying Wang Haofei rushed to the pavilion, there was no one on the isle beside the lifeless young master of Wang Clan and two ladies who were pale from extreme shock...

One of the guards immediately rushed to the lakeside but saw nothing except for the gleaming water rippling in Lake of Longevity under the moonlight. He widened his eyes and stared hard at the surface of the lake as though he was expecting a figure of someone in the lake. Unfortunately, he didn’t see anyone coming above the lake’s surface in the end.

...

The blowpipe which was used as a murder weapon had now turned into Yan Liqiang’s tool for breathing underwater. He didn’t poke his head above the water surface even once, as he snorkeled his way back to the courtyard of Vista Paradiso.

After climbing back to his bedroom through the window, he quickly took off the mask and dressed. He put away the things he should put away and destroyed any evidence he had to destroy. Only then, did he sit on the reclining chair in the room, watch the Lake of Longevity through the window and truly started to relax, revealing a smile on his face as though a heavy burden had been lifted from him.

Two hours later, a clamor was heard outside the courtyard. The officers from the Law Enforcement Office came for room inspections, causing chaos in the inn...

“Sir, I am extremely sorry. I am not too sure what is going on, but a few officers have come for room inspection. I would appreciate it if you can cooperate and step out from your room for a moment...” The staff in the inn apologetically knocked on the door to Yan Liqiang’s courtyard and could only laugh sheepishly as he requested for Yan Liqiang to grant them access to his room.

“No worries at all. We are all good, law-abiding citizens who should cooperate with officers who are on duty...” Yan Liqiang answered very reasonably and immediately stepped out from his room...

A few officers with unpleasant expressions on their faces shot Yan Liqiang a glance and didn’t even bother to inquire his identity. They checked around in the courtyard Yan Liqiang stayed in, took a look under the bed and inside the closet to make sure that no one was hiding in there before they left...

Tonight, many people probably didn’t manage to sleep well in the entire Pingxi City. On the contrary, Yan Liqiang slept very soundly tonight...

...

Taking out trash like Wang Haofei meant that he would become nothing but an insignificant stranger, a transparent person, an ordinary new student of the martial arts academy in the Ye Clan’s eyes for a while. He probably wouldn’t have anything to do with the Ye Clan for the time being as he had already removed his most imminent crisis for the time being, thus giving him more preparation time. It was also for this exact reason that he was able to sleep extremely soundly tonight. This was probably the best sleep he had ever since he woke up from that surrealistic experience...

The next morning, Yan Liqiang woke up early as usual. He opened the window in his room to welcome the fresh breeze from the Lake of Longevity and began his morning regime.

The Lake of Longevity still looked the same. It was still very early in the morning and the sky was still dark. A few specks of lights were floating on the lake’s surface, shrouded by mist.

Yan Liqiang’s eyes had undergone some strange changes after being enhanced three times through Heavenly Bestowments. His eyesight was still the same as before when he was looking at things in close proximity, albeit slightly clearer. However, his eyes would exhibit abnormality as soon as he focused into the distance, his pupils in his eyes would instantly shine brighter. As they shone, his vision would be akin to that of a hawk, he could clearly see objects which were even ten thousand meters away. The few specks of lights in the distance on the Lake of Longevity, which was shrouded in mist, instantly grew clearer in his focused gaze...

Those were lanterns which hung on the pleasure boats sailing on the Lake of Longevity. However, the passengers on the boat were no longer travelers, but soldiers from Pingxi City. They stood on either side of the deck with powerful bows and crossbows in their hands while they watched attentively over the lake’s surface. Quite a number of them were also holding long bamboo poles which they used to poke around in the water. From the look on their faces, these soldiers had probably stayed up half the night on the pleasure boats. Most of them appeared to be quite exhausted, but they didn’t let their guard down for even a second...

Without a doubt, these soldiers were most likely deployed to the Lake of Longevity to search for King Cobra.

At the Lake of Longevity, there were also a few more small isles and some places filled with reeds. A thorough search of the area would definitely require quite a lot of time and effort.

King Cobra had very prominent features on his face. After being seen by those two ladies last night, the officers from the Law Enforcement Office immediately knew they were talking about the wanted criminal, King Cobra as soon as the portrait was drawn.

A serious wanted criminal, who had just committed a crime not long ago in Qinghe County by massacring many, had actually managed to slip into the prefectural city and even murdered a young lord from an influential clan. News like this would no doubt send shockwaves. While instilling terror to a great number of people, it also infuriated some, like the Prefectural Governor from the Ye Clan. As the individual holding the highest authority in Pingxi Prefecture, it went without saying that he couldn’t possibly allow an infamous criminal to run amok in Pingxi City, even if only for the sake of his pride and reputation as an official.

After Yan Liqiang was done with his morning regime and saw the pleasure boats which were still drifting along the lake surface while the sky had already brightened, Yan Liqiang’s face broke into a strange smile.

After he had his breakfast in the inn and settled the bills for his room, Yan Liqiang left Vista Paradiso.

The patrols on the streets of Pingxi City had obviously increased compared to yesterday, along with officials who abused their power. They were gathered around places like the alleys and street corners. Crouching on the floor or below the eaves, they had grassroots or toothpicks sticking out at the side of their mouth as they eyed the pedestrians, especially those who were wearing hats, bamboo hats or face masks.

Shortly after Yan Liqiang left the inn, he saw an old man wearing a bamboo hat come out from an alley by the roadside. He was walking normally in front of Yan Liqiang until two thugs suddenly rushed out from a corner of the street and came towards him. One of the thugs then deliberately bumped into the old man and pretended to fall down. The other thug knocked the bamboo hat off that old man’s head in the process, revealing his head full of gray hair and wrinkled face hidden beneath the hat.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” The old man flew into a rage.

“I’m sorry, my brother here is drunk...” One of the thugs said, then they both escaped into the alley in a flash and vanished.

The two thugs completely ignored Yan Liqiang, who was behind the old man.

They walked for less than two hundred meters before the old man was stopped by a patrol of several men who demanded that he take off his bamboo hat...

Yan Liqiang looked straight ahead and walked past the patrol and the old man. After walking for half an hour, he arrived somewhere near the Nine Dragons Bridge in the east of Pingxi City.

As the oldest business district in Pingxi City, the street to the east of Nine Dragons Bridge was still bustling with activity during the day. However, the western side of the bridge was where the Shatu people usually gathered, therefore, it appeared to be deserted.

On the lively street east of Nine Dragons Bridge, however, one place was an exception – the medicinal store. The entrance was shut and the store was out of business. The door and windows outside the store were quite damaged and seemed to have been deliberately smashed. At the entrance of the store, a few Shatu people sat on rugs with their scimitars hanging at their waist. They were blocking the entrance and part of the road. The walls on either side of the main entrance had been splashed with ink along with two lines of messy scribbles–’ If you kill someone, you pay with your life! If you owe money, you pay your debt!’

“What are you looking at!” The few Shatu people sitting on the floor didn’t seem to be bothered by the stares they got from the passersby. They’d occasionally snap back at them violently and fiercely like a hungry man-eating wolf. However, those Shatu people weren’t able to conceal the greed in their eyes when they turned around to look at the bustling street and stores.

Yan Liqiang was very well aware of the incident here. When he passed by the medicinal store, he only threw those Shatu people a single indifferent glance and moved on.

Not far from the Nine Dragons Bridge and right behind this bustling main street, there was an old Chinese residential area. Due to the fact that this area was closer to the Shatu community, separated by only a river, it was still alright during the daytime. However, by nightfall, many Shatu people would frequently stir up trouble and clamor at the Nine Dragons Bridge. Since the matter had gotten worse over the past two years, quite a number of residents in this residential area moved away one after another over this period of time. The room rentals in this area were pretty much the cheapest in Pingxi City.

After wandering around the residential area for a while, Yan Liqiang spotted a small courtyard with a rental sign. Without wasting much effort, Yan Liqiang immediately paid for a year’s worth of rental at an affordable price to the couple who made tofu, renting the small courtyard which they no longer lived in without going through any broker.

Upon renting the courtyard, he went off to shop for some daily necessities. After a busy morning, he finally settled into his first lodging point in Pingxi City.

Yan Liqiang had lunch in the city and exited the city in the afternoon.

King Cobra’s wanted poster had already been put up at the west entrance of Pingxi City and there was a big crowd looking at it. Yan Liqiang squeezed into the crowd and heard a scholarly person in front of the poster speak while nodding his head. “Anyone who can capture this wanted criminal, King Cobra, dead or alive, will be rewarded with a hundred taels of gold. Anyone who can tip off on the hiding place of this criminal will be rewarded ten taels of gold...”

The crowd of onlookers in the surroundings gasped at the mention of the reward of a hundred taels of gold, then broke out into discussions.

“What’s going on? What crime did this person commit?”

“Don’t you know this person is a criminal who can kill without blinking? Awhile ago he nearly wiped out an influential clan in Qinghe County. Last night, this King Cobra murdered a young lord from a wealthy clan in the city’s Plum Gardens. The Law Enforcement Office of the city is currently in a chaotic state...”

“How did he manage to slip inside the city?”

“Who knows?”

The King Cobra on this portrait bore more resemblance to the one drawn in Qinghe County. King Cobra’s sinister face, his slanted eyes and black mole were drawn with a standard close to those facial composites. It seemed like the skill of the Law Enforcement Office’s artist in this prefectural town was a lot higher than the one in Qinghe County. Even so, these line portraits drawn with calligraphy brush and ink were not that much different compared to real portrait sketches, especially those by Yan Liqiang, which could be said to be done with the standard of a professional composite artist.

Yan Liqiang secretly smiled while listening to the heated discussions going on around him, then withdrew himself from the crowd. He easily went past the inspection at the city entrance and returned to Wuyang Village.

In the afternoon of the same day, Yan Liqiang ascended the mountain again and wasted no time in practicing his blow dart technique.

After receiving three Heavenly Bestowments, Yan Liqiang could sense that the highest realm of this blow dart wasn’t only the third layer. He had a feeling he could make another breakthrough happen...

While King Cobra brought an uproar to Pingxi City, Yan Liqiang immersed himself in diligent training every day in Wuyang ViIlage...

On the 11th day of the ninth lunar month, which was the fourth day after Yan Liqiang eliminated Wang Haofei, Yan Liqiang’s blow dart finally attained the fourth layer.

The first two layers of blow dart technique allowed Yan Liqiang to take out his enemies from a further distance away. The third layer allowed Yan Liqiang to hit moving targets accurately while moving. The fourth layer allowed Yan Liqiang to better perceive the airflow around him, thus turning the blow darts he released into living beings that could resonate with him. The moment the blow dart was shot out from the blowpipe, he could move the blowpipe to exert an additional force on the blow dart, allowing it to fly in a strange curved trajectory in which his opponents wouldn’t be able to effectively guard against.

When the realm of his blow dart technique was at the third layer, the trajectory of the blow darts he released had always been straight. After attaining the fourth layer, to put it simply, Yan Liqiang could even hit a target within a forty meter range behind him if he willed for it.

Four days later, on the 15th day of the ninth lunar month, the realm of Yan Liqiang’s blow dart technique had attained the fifth layer.

The realm of the fifth layer had not only caused more the blow darts to have more variations, but also enhanced its offensive power and range. Yan Liqiang’s control over the blow darts had also reached an entirely new level. In this realm, Yan Liqiang seemed to have a deep comprehension towards everything related to blow darts in his mind. As soon as he saw a blowpipe, he would know which type of blow dart would work best with that blowpipe, to the details of the length of its needle and weight of its fletching, how much force to exert with his mouth and hands when blowing and how many variations it could take... Similarly, when he randomly created a blow dart, he would know which blowpipe would launch that blow dart most efficiently, to the details of its appearance, length, diameter of its opening and he could also predict the number of variations the blow dart could take form in midair... All the data and feelings would emerge in his mind...

When the realm of his blow dart technique advanced from the third layer to the fifth layer, Yan Liqiang received the Heavenly Bestowment twice. At the same time, upon attaining the fifth layer, Yan Liqiang could precisely sense that this was the highest realm he could attain for the blow dart technique by using blowpipes. From now on, regardless how hard he trained, as long as he was still using a blowpipe, his technique would not be further improved. If he wished to improve his technique, he would need to discard the blowpipe and break free from conventional methods. Only by doing so he could continue on towards another breakthrough.

This feeling wasn’t told to him by anyone, but rather an enlightenment that had suddenly rose in his heart upon receiving the fifth Heavenly Bestowment.

From the 16th day of the ninth lunar month onwards, Yan Liqiang no longer used a blowpipe during his blow dart practices. He instead tried to launch the blow darts using his hands.

The new approach was indeed very difficult in the beginning. However, with the comprehension never leaving his mind, Yan Liqiang was able to grasp the key to launching blow darts without a blowpipe in just two days. This key could be summed up in just a sentence–’to visualize the pipe in your mind even without one in your hands’.

When he launched the blow dart, he visualized his own hand as a long blowpipe. His fingers, palm, arm, skin, muscles, bone, meridians were all parts which made up the blowpipe. The energy which surged forth from every inch of his flesh on his arm was akin to the energy which surged forth from his lungs. Through the appropriate amount of control and estimation, he managed to achieve things he could with a blowpipe through his arm, including even more variations to the blow darts he released.

On the 23rd day of the ninth lunar month, Yan Liqiang’s blow dart technique had broken through the sixth layer. The sixth Heavenly Bestowment came as expected.

Yan Liqiang guided himself as he pursued the next breakthrough.

By this time, he was already completely wrapped up in his training. Apart from cultivating Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing and the two other external cultivations every day, he spent his remaining time cultivating the blow dart technique. Unbeknownst to even him, he had already quietly gotten into a positive yet mysterious cycle of abilities. After every Heavenly Bestowment, his arms, eyes, body, lungs were enhanced. These enhancements, in turn, laid the foundation to his next breakthrough, which would bring about another wave of enhancements...

Starting from the 24th day of the ninth lunar month onwards, Yan Liqiang removed the ring of empennage-like fairing which he had made out of paper as the fletching of the blow dart, leaving only an unaltered sewing needle in his hands for further training by hand. Yan Liqiang applied the past experience he had in his new training. He visualized the sewing needle without its fletching in his hand as a blow dart with a fletching so small that it could be disregarded. Through this method, he tried to continuously adapt and adjust his body and hands.

And reality had proven that this method was effective.

In merely six days later, on the 30th day of the ninth lunar month, Yan Liqiang once again welcomed his seventh Heavenly Bestowment.

Since his right hand could launch a flying needle and allowed so many variations to it in midair, then his left hand should be able to do the same...

Therefore, from the first day of the tenth lunar month onwards, Yan Liqiang started practicing releasing flying needles with both hands.

Soon enough, his left hand became just as agile as his right hand. Whatever his right hand could do, his other hand could do as well. Not only that, Yan Liqiang also discovered another change in the flying needles he released with both hands– apart variations caused by using both hands, unexpected variations would also happen to the flying needles from colliding or brushing against each other.

On the seventh day of the tenth lunar month, the eight Heavenly Bestowment came again.

By this time, Yan Liqiang had already managed to release flying needles with both hands. Yet, he was still unsatisfied.

Smaller and lighter objects were actually harder to control. Since he could easily control object as tiny as a sewing needle, it shouldn’t be too challenging for him to increase the size of the flying needles and replace it with something else altogether, like throwing knives.

On the eighth day of the tenth lunar month, Yan Liqiang replaced the sewing needles he had been training with to two throwing knives. When he held those throwing knives on his hand, he visualized them as sewing needles of a larger size...

A few days later, he was able to control the throwing knives in his hands as well as he could with sewing needles. Not only that, since the weight of the throwing knives were heavier and thus easier to control, he could launch the flying knives over longer range with more formidable force. Even without dipping those knives in venom, they could easily take someone else’s life.

By the 13th day of the ninth lunar month, Yan Liqiang’s throwing knives became as fast as lightning and as invisible as ghost lights within the range of a hundred meters. The ninth Heavenly Bestowment came...

At this point of time, not only throwing knives but also anything Yan Liqiang could hold in his hands, be it as small as a rock or as big as an axe, he could almost instantly find the best way to handle and control them in order to launch them as soon as he weighed them in his hands.

After the ninth Heavenly Bestowment, Yan Liqiang could sense that his hidden weapon technique had already reached a very high point now. Beyond this point was an invisible ceiling which seemed to have a final realm behind it. However, Yan Liqiang couldn’t pinpoint exactly what was that final realm. He only had a hunch that he would require some kind of opportunity or comprehension to break through this ceiling and that he couldn’t rush into this.

With this comprehension, Yan Liqiang put down the training of hidden weapons and got started with his other techniques.

On the 14th day of the tenth lunar month, Yan Liqiang chopped nine pine trees on the mountain then drove nine wooden stakes two meters high into the ground in the small courtyard he rented, arranging them into a nine palace square. These nine wooden stakes were necessary tools for advancing the Nine Palace Wind Shadow Steps to the realm of the third layer as one would need to train the third layer of Nine Palace Wind Shadow Steps on wooden stakes two meters above the ground.

From this day on, Yan Liqiang started cultivating Nine Palace Wind Shadow Steps and Tiger Roaring Consecutive Fist technique in his courtyard.

After nine rounds of Heavenly Bestowments, the strength, agility, and speed of reflex in Yan Liqiang’s arms had reached an inhuman level. Similarly, through the great enhancements brought about by the nine Heavenly Bestowments, the current agility and speed of his body compared to before was like the difference between day and night. Whenever he ascended or descended the mountain, he felt as though he was breezing through the journey and his footsteps felt light and airy.

Agility and reflex speed of the hands were exactly what the Tiger Roaring Consecutive Fist technique required as they were the essence of the word ‘consecutive’ in this technique’s name. Similarly, for the ‘wind and shadow’ in Nine Palace Wind Shadow Steps, this technique required an agile body.

With enhancements from both Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing and nine Heavenly Bestowments, Yan Liqiang’s two external cultivations went very smoothly the following few days and the speed of his advancements was so fast that even Yan Liqiang found it hard to believe.

After cultivating for merely two days, by the 15th day of the tenth lunar month, Yan Liqiang’s Tiger Roaring Consecutive Fist technique had already broken through the fourth layer, attaining the highest realm of this fist technique– the fifth layer.

On the 16th day of the tenth lunar month, the Nine Palace Wind Shadow Steps, which had been stagnant for over a long time, had also broken through the second layer, reaching the third layer.

In the following days, Yan Liqiang spent only nine days, with the speed of breaking through one layer every three days, and trained in the Nine Palace Wind Shadow Steps secret manual which Qian Su had given him to the highest realm– the sixth layer.

The sixth layer of Nine Palace Wind Shadow Steps didn’t only allow Yan Liqiang to move so fast that his figured was blurred on the nine palace stakes, but also enabled Yan Liqiang to achieve the speed of a running horse when he ran.

Although the secret manual that Yan Liqiang trained wasn’t really that powerful and the Tiger Roaring Consecutive Fist technique was the most common fist technique everywhere, the speed of his cultivation was enough to shock many if word got out.

Spending more than a month to diligently practice, Yan Liqiang successfully made an unimaginable transformation to his strength with the most unimaginable speed.

A youth nearly fifteen years old possessing flying needles, a hidden weapon technique of the ninth layer, Tiger Roaring Consecutive Fist technique of the peak fifth layer and Nine Palace Wind Shadow Steps of the peak sixth layer was enough to make a bunch of people’s jaw drop. Even Yan Liqiang didn’t expect his diligent training for just more than a month could improve himself to such extent.

By now, it was almost time for him to return to Pingxi City again...

The next time that Yan Liqiang stood at the western entrance to Pingxi City was already in the morning of the 28th day of the tenth lunar month!

After over a month of not entering the city, even though it was early morning, the western entrance to Pingxi City was already bustling. The entire western entrance was full of people coming and going, both in and out of the city. Due to the weather cooling down, the coal usage had increased. Ox-drawn carts full of coal ready to sell were crowded around the city gate, lined up in a long queue, almost like a train.

Watching the crowds bustling around him, Yan Liqiang had the feeling that he was once again returning back to civilization. The most important thing though, was that at this moment, his feelings and emotions were not the same as they once were a month ago.

After paying the entrance fee for the city and entering, Yan Liqiang looked towards the announcements posted at the city gate. The arrest warrant for King Cobra was still stuck there, but after over a month of wear and tear, the picture on the warrant had become very worn and there wasn’t anyone crowded in front of it to check it out. A gust of cold wind blew past and the edge of that worn picture begun to waver, almost like a yellowing leaf that wanted to fall from the tree at any moment.

After over a month of not being able to find King Cobra, the alert level of Pingxi City had long since lowered. Both the city bailiffs and mercenaries were tired. Even the guards at the city gate had lowered their guard. Though the hundred gold taels was a large temptation, if they wanted to find a person that didn’t exist, after a while, anyone would lose interest.

Everyone seemed to think that after King Cobra had made a run for it after committing murder.

Looking at the fluttering arrest warrant, Yan Liqiang smiled a little, walking directly in the direction of the martial arts academy.

There was a swordsmanship lesson by Shi Changfeng today. Thinking about how he had not been to the martial arts academy in a long time, Yan Liqiang couldn’t help but go to have a look. Last time, Shi Changfeng had looked after him. This time, from starting until now which was about a period of two months, he had yet to see Shi Changfeng and he was a little embarrassed just thinking about it.

According to his experience from ‘last time’, it was around this time when many of the new students were starting to awaken from the first flush of excitement, and getting to know that everything within the martial arts academy wasn’t as perfect as they had previously imagined. The county’s top martial arts academy’s higher purpose was to produce martial warriors and you couldn’t really learn any high leveled martial techniques or secret techniques. When the teachers taught lessons, they were all taught accordingly and were all foundations to advancing to martial warrior. In this stage, no matter how much of it was told or described, it wasn’t as important as hard work and practice. The martial arts academy was that it was the best place to enable people to practice hard, therefore those students who assumed that they could come into contact and learn wonderful, advanced martial techniques within the martial arts academy would be sorely disappointed.

Not only that, to many young, inexperienced people, Pingxi City was a busy, bustling place. In a place like this, even the county’s martial arts academy students were a normal sort of existence. It didn’t have that sort of shine about it like there was previously when they were in their hometowns, in front of their villagers. The students around them were basically the same as they were and their abilities were not something they could boast about anymore...

Even more people would discover that in a place like this, your actual personal abilities were hardly as important as another classmate’s family background and the money they had on their person. Each person’s life and social circle would slowly show a huge gap. Some people could already live like a king, passing their days with beautiful women. However, people like you still needed to calculate how much money you could save by eating one less mantou every breakfast this month. While you spent each day squatting in a horse stance, there were other students who had already found masters at the martial arts academy and were learning other, better techniques and eating high-class medicinal pills. They weren’t working as hard as you but their improvements far outstripped yours and they were much more likely to reach martial warrior status.

This huge difference and disappointment were unable to be accepted by many people. They could even fall into a daze and become suspicious. Those who could pass this test would work and sweat even harder during the time they spent in various practice arenas at the martial arts academy. Those who were unable to pass this test would slowly sink into alcohol and prostitutes, and would gradually become useless and just end up as another one of the crowd.

Under this sort of circumstance, many people had already learned to choose between the classes held once per week at the martial arts academy. Some new students had already learned to skip class. As to the reason why, it was because some had found their goal and learned to choose; for others, it was because they had lost their direction and unknowingly had already given up.

Stepping back into the martial arts academy again, there were not many people who saluted Yan Liqiang with their gaze anymore. In these last two months, apart from the first day at the beginning of school, Yan Liqiang hadn’t shown his face at the martial arts academy at all, let alone do anything impressive in the martial ring of the academy. Without many people observing and without any new topics of conversation, the shine of being number one of the top three in Qinghe County’s Martial Arts County Trial had slowly worn off. Both Yan Liqiang and Guang Tongcheng had absolutely become one of many passing students within the martial arts academy.

This was also the result that Yan Liqiang had specifically created. In a lot of cases, being normal was the best defense.

After arriving at the large classroom, he found that Shi Changfeng had yet to arrive and there was neither hide nor hair of Shi Dafeng and Shen Teng. To Yan Liqiang’s knowledge of the past, the basic sword technique that Shi Changfeng was teaching had already been taught to the two of them before at home. The one who had taught Shen Teng basic sword technique was his uncle. Shi Dafeng’s old man had spent money to hire a teacher to pass on their techniques to him. It was a pity that Shi Dafeng had no interest in basic sword technique, his preferred weapon was the saber as he thought that using the saber was smoother.

After waiting a while in the classroom, Shi Changfeng arrived.

Shi Changfeng’s gaze swept across the classroom. When he saw Yan Liqiang, his gaze paused slightly before he started the lesson.

This was the second time that Yan Liqiang had attended this same class. In this class, Shi Changfeng only spoke about the snap movement within the basics of sword technique. He took less than twenty minutes and then the class was dismissed.

Just as he stepped out of the classroom, a voice sounded next to Yan Liqiang’s ear.

“Yan Liqiang...”

Yan Liqiang turned his head and saw that Shi Changfeng was looking at him, standing beneath a tree that wasn’t far from the classroom exit, his hands behind his back. Yan Liqiang hurried ran over.

“Greetings to you, Teacher Shi...”

Shi Changfeng carefully looked at Yan Liqiang from head to toe. His expression was slightly serious and without humor. “I remember that you were number one in this year’s Qinghe County’s Martial Arts County Trial. A couple of months ago, it was me who called you here to try out for the Trial...”

“Yes, I didn’t expect that Teacher Shi would still remember!” Yan Liqiang said smiling.

“This is the first time that I’ve seen you in the martial arts academy in two months, ever since the start of class. Normally, I don’t see you go to class, nor do I see you in the practice arena. Now, I don’t know what you’re busy with, but you must know from the moment you entered this county’s martial arts academy, any achievements you made prior are not enough to prove your worth. You must not become complacent or arrogant. Even though the things taught in this martial arts academy isn’t deep, but it is the basics of becoming a martial warrior. It is only after you have this foundation and advance into a martial warrior that you can move further in the future. You might deeply regret your current moments of leisure in the future!” Shi Changfeng told Yan Liqiang, words both meaningful and heartfelt.

Yan Liqiang hadn’t actually expected Shi Changfeng to be so mindful of himself. The last time, it was only because he was righting a wrong at the city gates that Shi Changfeng had seen him in a new light and was slightly admiring of him. However, this time, he hadn’t done a single thing, but Shi Changfeng had been unexpectedly concerned about him, noticing that he had not come to class for about two months. It looked like that this teacher was quite concerned about him. If he wasn’t concerned, then who would care if he lived or died.

“Thank you, Teacher Shi, for your honest advice!” Yan Liqiang said politely.

“Are you currently living near Three Yuan Street?”

“I’m living outside the city, in a village on the west. It’s cheap to live and eat there, and no one bothers you when you cultivate...”

Hearing Yan Liqiang’s words, Shi Changfeng paused slightly. “I remember that your family’s not badly off, with a smith’s forge to garner a living. Why...”

“Oh, about that, I feel that I’m not a child anymore. Even if I’m to study at the Prefecture Martial Arts Academy, I will still need to slowly learn to fend for myself and reduce the burden of my father a little. Even tael less that I spend here, means that my father can toil less at home...” Yan Liqiang looked every inch the studious student who was striving for self-improvement.

Shi Changfeng’s expression had softened quite a lot. He nodded lightly. “To be able to fend for yourself is not a bad thing, but don’t push yourself and miss the bigger picture. As long as you can achieve Martial Warrior status as soon as possible, then fortune will follow. There’s no need to worry about it like that!”

“Yes, I’ll remember!”

Shi Changfeng only left after encouraging Yan Liqiang with a few more words. Yan Liqiang was initially going to search for Shi Dafeng, however, he reconsidered. It was better for him to keep a distance from Shi Dafeng before he had completely gotten rid of the impending crisis upon him, to avoid getting Shi Dafeng involved. With that in mind, Yan Liqiang directly descended the mountain.

Just as he walked out of the front door of the martial arts academy, a horse-drawn carriage coincidentally stopped before the door. The curtain on the carriage drew apart and a person disembarked. Yan Liqiang and that person looked at each other, both startled into pausing.

“Sixth Master!”

“Liqiang!”

The person who stepped down from the carriage was actually Lu Peien...

Yan Liqiang walked up to Lu Peien and politely asked, “Sixth Master, what business do you have in Pingxi City?”

“Haihh, it’s a long story!” Lu Peien shook his head and smiled wryly before he cheered up again. “It’s been two long months! Liqiang, you seem to be in better spirits and you look good. From the looks of it, you have made some progress again in your training. The day you become a Martial Warrior is probably just around the corner!”

“Hahaha, I don’t have any burdens unlike important people such as Sixth Master who is always busy!”

“You are really good at flattery!” Lu Peien laughed too, feeling comfortable every time he spoke with Yan Liqiang. He couldn’t help but forget his age and treat him like an adult. Qian Su already told him that this precocious nephew of his was too mature for his age. It seemed like he wasn’t wrong about it at all.

“I still have a lot to learn from Sixth Master!”

“Ah, let’s leave it at that. I need to pay a visit to the martial arts academy first. I’ve got some business with the academy’s headmaster. Go busy yourself with your own things first Liqiang, then we’ll have lunch together at Lingbo Pavilion here in Pingxi City...”

“I have nothing much to do now. Just let me know if you need any help, Sixth Master. I will definitely do it as long as it is within my capabilities!”

‘The last time’ a tragedy befell his clan, the Lu Clan did everything they could for him and Yan Dechang until the very end. Yan Liqiang still remembered that it was Old Master Lu who sent the Sixth Master to Pingxi City to face a great deal of pressure. He had to personally make use of his connections in the city to claim Yan Liqiang’s corpse and he helped settle the funeral. Although the Lu Clan was an influential clan in Huanglong County, they had indeed done as much as they could for him.

As the saying goes, ‘misfortune tests the sincerity of friends’. It was certainly remarkable for the Lu Clan to be able to do that for them. To Yan Liqiang, regardless of the future between him and Lu Beixin or the possibility of them being together, the Lu Clan was definitely worth making friends with.

Seeing how ardent and thoughtful Yan Liqiang was, Lu Peien stole a few serious glances at him again. When he realized that Yan Liqiang was calm and didn’t seem to be insincere, he couldn’t help but be moved. He secretly murmured to himself that it seemed like the Old Master still had pretty impressive eyes for people. When Yan Liqiang, who had come to Pingxi City for two months after winning the first place among the top three in Qinghe County, saw him again, not only was he not conceited or arrogant – he was more respectful and courteous than ever. And what was that? That was the moral of a person. A person like this would certainly achieve meteor success in their life when an opportunity presented itself.

“Although this matter is indeed a vexing one, there’s no need for Liqiang’s help for now. We shall talk more during lunch...”

“Alright. Please attend to your matters first, Sixth Master. We shall talk more over lunch...”

After speaking with Yan Liqiang, Lu Peien immediately headed towards the main entrance of the martial arts academy. The guards who stood by the entrance stopped him. Lu Peien then fished out a gilded name card and handed it over to them. The two guards took a good look at the name card before they courteously stepped aside to let Lu Peien in. One of them even guided him to the mountain.

Yan Liqiang initially planned to return to the Nine Dragons Bridge, but since he had bumped into Lu Peien here, he decided to stay and wait for Lu Peien to come back instead of going elsewhere.

Judging from Lu Peien’s countenance, the Lu Clan had probably run into some kind of trouble or difficulty that wasn’t easy to resolve, and thus he showed up in Pingxi City. However, no matter how hard he racked his brains, Yan Liqiang simply couldn’t come up with any problems that the Lu Clan could have possibly run into that required Lu Peien to come running to the martial arts academy.

“Big Brother, if I may ask, what is your name?” Seeing that Lu Peien had gone inside, Yan Liqiang started a conversation with his coachman. From the attire the coachman was wearing, he was probably from the Lu Clan too.

“Oh, you are too polite! I am Lu Dayou. If Young Master Yan thinks highly of the humble me, you can just call me by my name!” The coachman was overwhelmed and shocked after Yan Liqiang treated him with respect.

“Haha, Brother Lu, you know about me?”

“Of course I do. The method which Young Master Yan passed down to rescue those who drown in water at the Lu Residence is simply amazing. A few months later, that method saved the lives of a few children in just Huanglong County alone. Since that method was propagated by our manor, we are also basking in the reflected glory and are being praised by the others. Now, there’s no one in the Lu Residence who hasn’t heard of Young Master Yan’s name. Everyone talks about how merciful you are and that you will definitely be rewarded for your good will. When Young Master Yan won first place among top three in the Martial Arts County Trial of Qinghe County, everyone in the Lu Residence knew as well and we were happy for Young Master Yan...!” The coachman smiled earnestly while he praised Yan Liqiang.

“How has the Lu Clan been lately?”

“Not bad!”

“Is Old Master Lu still healthy?”

“Yes, he is. The Old Master can play with huge stone weights of more than a hundred jin every day for up to two hours...”

“Glad to hear that. Did Sixth Master come to the prefectural city’s martial arts academy because he ran into some kind of trouble?”

“Well... It’s not my place to tell!” Lu Dayou hesitated for a moment before he shook his head with a troubled expression on his face. “Please forgive me, Young Master Yan. If I am to tell you now, the Sixth Master will reprimand me for not knowing my place. If Young Master Yan wishes to know, you will just have to personally ask the Sixth Master later...”

“Understood, I will ask Sixth Master personally later. Sorry for making things difficult for Brother Lu!”

“Don’t worry about it...”

“Oh right, how long has Brother Lu been a coachman...?”

“Almost two decades!”

“What’s the difference between driving a carriage and riding a horse? Is there some sort of trick to it?”

...

As the saying goes, ‘When I walk along with two others, they may serve me as my teachers.’ [1] Since Yan Liqiang had nothing to do anyway, he used the time to talk about the tips and tricks of driving a carriage with Lu Dayou, how to take care of horses and rhinodrake steeds, the qualities of various fodders, and how to take care of sick horses... At first, Lu Dayou thought that Yan Liqiang didn’t know how to take care of horses. After talking to him, he realized that Yan Liqiang was actually very knowledgeable. He even had better experiences than him in certain aspects and Lu Dayou was actually able to gain a lot of knowledge from him here. He also reciprocated by sharing various pieces of information and experience he had gained from driving carriages to Yan Liqiang over these years.

Nearly two hours passed since they started talking.

By the time Lu Peien came out from the martial arts academy, both of them still seemed to have much to talk about. The coachman, Lu Dayou, admired Yan Liqiang so much that he wanted to bow down to him in admiration and he so badly wanted to proclaim Yan Liqiang as his close friend. After driving a carriage for so many years, his chat with Yan Liqiang today was most pleasurable. But of course, he was oblivious to the fact that socializing and building up networks through communication was a special skill that Yan Liqiang had earnestly studied during his career in his past life. In addition to this skill and the various ‘past’ experiences and gained knowledge, what Yan Liqiang gathered from the dedicated coachman of the Military Governor was enough for Yan Liqiang to chat with him for an entire day without any issues.

“Sixth Master!”

“Sixth Master!”

“What were you guys talking about? You two seemed like you were having a lot of fun!”

“I’ve learned quite a lot about taking care of horses from Young Master Yan. I am really impressed by him...” Lu Dayou managed to reply first.

“Oh? Liqiang, you know how to take care of horses too?”

“I have them back home, so I know a little. Actually, I was asking Brother Lu about how to drive a carriage just now. He was just being too humble...” Yan Liqiang said humbly.

Lu Peien smiled and gave Yan Liqiang a deep, meaningful stare. Perhaps most would scorn at people like Yan Liqiang who mingled with people of a lower social class. However, to a worldly man like Lu Peien, he would value Yan Liqiang instead and secretly admire him. “Liqiang, you didn’t leave?”

“No, I didn’t. I waited here for Sixth Master to bring me to a good meal!”

Why would someone like Yan Liqiang be bothered about a good meal so much that he waited for him here instead of leaving? He was probably sincere about finding out what help he could offer. Of course, Lu Peien understood just how valuable his intention was. He let out a hearty laugh. “HAHAHA. Good. It’s about time for lunch anyway so let’s go now. We’ll go there on the horse carriage. Feel free to order whatever you wish to eat today, Liqiang!”

“Hehe, I hope I won’t put too many expenses on Sixth Master!”

Both of them got on the horse carriage. Lu Dayou immediately drove the carriage towards Lingbo Pavilion without even waiting for Lu Peien’s order.

Lu Peien didn’t really talk about anything too important to Yan Liqiang in the horse carriage. He only inquired about Yan Liqiang’s his studies in the martial arts academy out of concern, which Yan Liqiang responded appropriately to.

The traveling speed of the horse carriage was indeed quicker than walking. It was obvious that this wasn’t the first time the coachman, Lu Dayou, had visited Pingxi City. He was very familiar with the routes in the city. In just a flash, the horse carriage had arrived at Lingbo Pavillion.

Lingbo Pavillion was the most famous restaurant in Pingxi City. It was located in the Plum Gardens at the Lake of Longevity.

Yan Liqiang would more or less have a strange feeling in his heart every time he was at the Plum Gardens, even though he didn’t show it on his face. That was because the last time he was here, he was here to kill Wang Haofei.

They reserved a private room on the third floor of Lingbo Pavillion all to themselves. After the dishes were served, both of them had two cups of wine in the room. When Yan Liqiang once again brought up the question of why Lu Peien was here in Pingxi City, Lu Peien drained the contents of his cup in one gulp and then placed his wine cup down on the table. With a frown, he spoke to Yan Liqiang gloomily. “The Lu Clan is in big trouble this time...”

“What kind of trouble? Please tell me in detail, Sixth Master!”

Lu Peien pointed to the Lake of Longevity beyond the window. “Liqiang, did you know that King Cobra murdered someone in one of the isles in the Lake of Longevity last month, on the night of the seventh day of the ninth lunar month?”

“Yes, I do!” Yan Liqiang thought carefully for a moment. “I didn’t think King Cobra would still be in Pingxi City. I heard that the person whom he killed was one of my senior martial brothers in the martial arts academy, with the surname Wang. I think the city was in an uproar for quite a long while back then...”

“The victim’s name was Wang Haofei. Liqiang, do you know who he is?”

“Well... I heard he was the son of a wealthy clan...” Yan Liqiang had an endearing, silly look on his face.

“That’s right. Wang Haofei was indeed the son of a wealthy clan. He was the young lord of the Wang Clan in Huanglong County. The son of Wang Puge, the head of the Wang Clan, who was very dear to the Old Master of the Wang Clan. He was the future hope of the Wang Clan. In Huanglong County, the Lu Clan and the Wang Clan never really got along well with each other, nor have they been on good terms. Now that Wang Haofei is dead, the Wang Clan is planning to blame it on the Lu Clan. They thought it was the Lu Clan who contacted King Cobra to assassinate him...”

Yan Liqiang’s jaw dropped in shock. He didn’t expect that after all the twists and turns, this matter would shift to the Lu Clan...

“How did this have anything to do with the Lu Clan? King Cobra is a wanted criminal who has taken countless lives as a lone wolf. Despite the fact that the Wang Clan is not on good terms with the Lu Clan, they can’t possibly shift the blame on the Lu Clan just because someone died in their clan. It could be that the Wang Clan offended someone themselves or Wang Haofei offended King Cobra. There’s also a possibility that maybe King Cobra killed him for wealth!”

“You may be right about that, but you are missing a key point!”

“Which key point?”

“Now that things have turned out this way, there’s really nothing to hide from Liqiang!” Lu Peien shook his head and smiled wryly. If Yan Liqiang was an ordinary youth, it would be fine if he didn’t tell Yan Liqiang. However, Yan Liqiang was a shrewd boy. Things had blown up between the Wang and Lu Clan. If he didn’t tell Yan Liqiang now, there might be misunderstandings and rifts between them by the time Yan Liqiang found out for himself in the future. Hence, it was better to clear things up with him now. After all, this was also one of the reasons behind his visit to Pingxi City. “This matter is also related to Beixin!”

“What has it got to do with Miss Lu again?” Yan Liqiang asked, despite knowing the answer already. Deep down, he suddenly managed to connect all the dots.

“Beixin also studies at the martial arts academy and she previously became acquainted with Wang Haofei. She then got into some sort of relationship with him and kept it a secret from the clan. Don’t overthink this, Liqiang. Although Beixin was in a relationship with Wang Haofei, she had to scrupulously abide by the rules and she didn’t go overboard. Heaven and Earth can testify to this...”

“Yes, I have met the Ninth Lady. She is indeed rational and well-behaved. I believe she wouldn’t do anything that is over the top either. I am guessing that Wang Haofei initiated the relationship between him and the Ninth Lady, possibly with some impure intentions...”

“Exactly!” Lu Peien slapped his thigh. “But the Old Master still found out about this in the end and he was extremely furious. When the academy reopened during the ninth lunar month, he grounded Beixin. As punishment, he shut her up and made her reflect on her mistake. He also forced her to promise that she wouldn’t have anything to do with that Wang guy from then on. But Wang Haofei didn’t know about this. The night he was murdered, he was actually waiting to meet Beixin on that isle. Unfortunately, he was killed by King Cobra instead. What do you think the Wang Clan would think about this?”

The Wang and Lu Clan had always been sworn enemies. A man from the Wang Clan seduced a woman from the Lu Clan and was murdered by someone at the place where he was supposed to meet the woman. Of all places, the two of them had chosen a very obscure place to meet. Apart from the both of them, no one else would really know about the place. What would the Wang Clan possibly think of this...?

“This is indeed hard to explain!”

“Indeed. In Huanglong County, we, the Lu Clan, have never feared the Wangs even in the slightest. When push comes to shove, we will just deal with it when the time comes. If we are going to fight, there are fighters in our clan. However, the Lu Clan has really been falsely accused over this incident. It is not worth it for us to take the blame either. If the Wang Clan really decides to take revenge for this incident, then it’s inevitable that there might be casualties, even among our younger generation. Even if we can avenge them, we can’t avoid turning this into an armed battle. Right now, things are extremely tense between the Wang Clan and the Lu Clan in Huanglong County. The younger ones are growing wary when they are outside, fearing that the Wang Clan will come for revenge...” Lu Peien explained, his eyebrows tightly knitted together.

“How does Old Master Lu plan to handle this?”

“Old Master Lu doesn’t wish to turn this into a conflict with the Wang Clan without rhyme or reason. Therefore, he personally wrote a letter to the Old Master of the Wang Clan. But according to the messenger, the Old Master of the Wang Clan tossed the letter into the brazier in which they burnt paper money for Wang Haofei without even reading it...”

“That means that the Wang Clan isn’t willing to leave this matter alone!”

“Yes, Wang Haofei was always deemed as the most outstanding youth among the younger generation in the Wang Clan. He was even a potential candidate to succeed as the next Wang Clan head. Now that he was murdered just like this, the Wang Clan definitely won’t take this while lying down.”

“How are the preparations coming along in the Wang Clan?”

“Naturally, they are eager to get into action and are already rounding up people who can fight with them!”

“Just let me know if you need my help, Sixth Master!”

Lu Peien smiled. With haughtiness in his tone of voice, he said, “Just concentrate on your studies in the martial arts academy, Liqiang. Although the Lu Clan didn’t wish to be involved in this incident without rhyme or reason and have to put up a life or death struggle against them, we definitely are not targets for the Wang Clan to bully either. If the Wang Clan can round up people, so can we. Besides, this isn’t the first time we have fought with them. Anyhow, even if we are not the ones who ordered someone to assassinate Wang Haofei, he deserves to die. He definitely had some impure intentions in approaching Beixin. I went to the martial arts academy this time to look for two academy tutors I know because I wish to find out if Wang Haofei had any enemies, if he offended anyone in the academy, or if anyone had deliberately framed the Lu Clan because they wanted us to fight the Wang Clan...”

“Did you find out anything?”

“They said the young lord of the Prefectural Governor is the only person Wang Haofei was close with. He rarely appeared at the martial arts academy and didn’t offend anyone either.”

“Rest assured, Sixth Master, I know a few people in the martial arts academy too. My friends and I will keep an eye out for things. I will inform Sixth Master immediately if we have any information!”

“Good!” Lu Peien nodded and glanced at Yan Liqiang again before he laughed. “Liqiang, don’t be a stranger. Stop calling me Sixth Master. Call me Sixth Brother like Beixin does. Being called Sixth Master makes me feel old!”

If Yan Liqiang got together with Lu Beixin, then he’d really have to call Lu Peien his ‘Sixth Brother’. For Lu Peien to ask Yan Liqiang to change his form of address meant that Yan Liqiang had won his approval and he was about to treat Yan Liqiang as his younger brother-in-law.

“It is an honor, Sixth Brother!” Yan Liqiang stood up and gave Lu Peien a solemn bow.

Lu Peien smiled and quickly pulled Yan Liqiang up. He then fished out a shortsword and handed it over to Yan Liqiang. “I didn’t prepare anything for this visit to Pingxi City. This shortsword is something I got a few years ago by chance, and I named it ‘Black Scale’. Rumors have it that this was tempered with by an expert with some sort of unusual flame. I shall give you this today, Liqiang!”

Unusual flame? This was the second time Yan Liqiang had come across this term. He heard it for the first time at the Divine Sword Sect – that there was a type of unusual flame within Tianqiao Peak.

Yan Liqiang accepted the shortsword Lu Peien handed over to him without declining, and then immediately unsheathed it.

The sheath and grip of the shortsword were made out of ordinary wood while only the guard and the pommel were made out of steel. It didn’t really have that many decorative designs on it. It was a simple and non-flashy weapon. When Yan Liqiang drew the sword out, he was slightly stunned by the sight of the dark and swarthy blade.

Lu Peien smiled beside him and grabbed a pair of chopsticks on the table. Without exerting much force, he lightly tapped the chopsticks on the edge of the blade. The chopsticks instantly split cleanly in half.

The sharpness of this shortsword was simply beyond imagination.

“Ah!” Yan Liqiang gasped in surprise.

“It has been said that the unusual flame will be able to draw in the Spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth, mixing it in with the item that is being tempered with during the process. Hence, items that have been tempered by these unusual flames contain outstanding qualities!”

“Sixth Brother, this is much too expensive for a gift!”

“This thing isn’t too useful to me since I am not a Martial Warrior. If the Lu Clan really needed someone like me to draw my sword and fight, then it must be at the end of its line. Liqiang, you have boundless future prospects ahead of you. As the saying goes, ‘a great gift is for a great man’. You are the more fitting owner of this shortsword!”

“Thank you, Sixth Brother!” Yan Liqiang put away the shortsword in his hands. “What exactly is that unusual flame you speak of?”

“That unusual flame? I have never seen it so I don’t know too much about it either. All I know is that the unusual flame seems to be a mysterious matter born from Heaven and Earth. The ores and weapons tempered with the unusual flame are extremely sharp. Refined objects that are tempered with it will also possess some strange attributes. By the time you progress into becoming a Martial Warrior and get to know more people, you will probably find out more about it...”

“Alright...”

...

After finishing their meal, Lu Peien left on his horse carriage. Before he left, he reminded Yan Liqiang to visit the Lu Residence when he had the time.

After seeing Lu Peien off, Yan Liqiang held the Black Scale shortsword close to his chest and went off in the direction of the Nine Dragons Bridge.

On his way there, he kept thinking about Wang Haofei. He couldn’t help but feel astonished. He didn’t expect that by killing Wang Haofei in advance, thus changing history and dispelling his imminent crisis, would in turn aggravate the relationship between the Lu Clan and the Wang Clan. After coming back full circle, he was once again indirectly involved in this matter. The will of Heaven was indeed hard to fathom...

...

Yan Liqiang stayed for two consecutive days in the room he had rented near the Nine Dragons Bridge. During the day he wandered and strolled around to observe and shop a little like someone who had nothing better to do. Apart from cultivating Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing in his room, he frequently went out at night and didn’t return until the wee hours of the night. Two days later, on the 30th day of the tenth lunar month, the moment Yan Liqiang had been waiting for finally arrived...

Since it was already winter, the sky turned dark very early. By nine o’clock at night on the 30th day of the tenth lunar month, the streets of Pingxi City were pretty much deserted. In this world, which lacked night entertainment, most people were already asleep by eleven o’clock at night. By one o’clock after midnight, the areas that were still brightly lit throughout the entire city could be easily counted with one’s fingers. By the Ox Zodiac Hour, all of Pingxi City would basically be in total darkness.

According to the time system that used in Yan Liqiang’s previous life, the Ox Zodiac Hour was between one and three o’ clock after midnight.

Yan Liqiang napped in the afternoon today at the house he had rented at Nine Dragons Bridge to rest up. At night, he cultivated Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing in his bedroom. By the Ox Zodiac Hour, he had just cultivated five rounds of Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing. Thus, Yan Liqiang’s body and stamina were at peak state.

Unsure of whether it was due to the Nine Heavenly Bestowments he had received or the fact that he had been cultivating Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing more diligently these days, Yan Liqiang sensed that he was about to breakthrough the Stretching Tendon and Extending Bone stage. Based on his past experience, when he passed the Stretching Tendon and Extending Bone while cultivating Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing, his dantian would also be established at the same time – these two stages would pass together at the same time. This also meant that he was going to progress into a Martial Warrior way earlier than he had predicted.

Yan Liqiang was quite excited about it, but of course, he hadn’t given up on his own plan. Putting aside the Tiger Roaring Consecutive Fist technique, just his hidden flying needle technique at the ninth layer and his Nine Palace Wind Shadow Steps which he had cultivated to the peak were enough for Yan Liqiang. He was confident that he would be unstoppable in Pingxi City and that he was capable of achieving a lot of things. As such, that was what ‘the talented and skilled are bold’ saying meant. With proper insight, Yan Liqiang was suddenly able to see the light and the path open up before him. Things he had never dared to think of doing were now popping into his mind one after another as his thoughts gushed forth.

He killed Wang Haofei in self-defense so that he could buy himself more time. Today was the official beginning of his final showdown with the pair of father and son from the Ye Clan.

Yan Liqiang changed into the black clothes he had prepared earlier and also changed into a pair of warrior boots with softer soles. Carrying a black sack on his back, he once again put on King Cobra’s mask. Before he set out, he checked his equipment one last time.

There was a row of flying needles dipped in venom, a row of ordinary darts, an ordinary but sharp shortsword, and a firestarter – a firestarter that could start a fire faster than a fire striker because a fire could be ignited as soon as it was pulled out!

Although the Black Scale shortsword Lu Peien had given to him was sharp and easy to use, its distinctive feature stood out a little too much. Hence, it was not suitable for this occasion because if someone recognized the shortsword, they might be able to trace it back to Yan Liqiang. So in the end, Yan Liqiang left the shortsword behind in his room.

Yan Liqiang predicted that he might even be able to get his hands on some precious items if his operation succeeded tonight because he had already wandered around the location countless times while he was in his soul state. Hence, he knew about the extremely well-hidden items around there.

After equipping all his items, Yan Liqiang closed his eyes and sat in the pitch black room in silence as he waited. He slowed his breathing down at the same time and relaxed his heart.

Finally, after sitting for more than ten minutes in silence with his eyes closed, the sound Yan Liqiang was waiting for finally rang out from outside the window of his rented room.

Clang... Clang... Clang... Clang...

Four long gong beats rang out in the silence of the night. The fourth of the five night watch periods signified that it was already the Ox Zodiac Hour. As the saying goes, ‘the first of the five night watch periods is for the people, the second of the five night watch periods’ gong resounds in the silence, the third of the five night watch periods is for the ghosts, the fourth of the five night watch periods is for the thieves, and the fifth of the five night watch periods is for the roosters’. The fourth of the five night watch periods at the Ox Zodiac Hour was during the deepest part of the night when people slept most soundly. This was also when most nightwalkers started to roam about.

“The night is bitterly cold and dry, beware of fires and thieves...” The old night watchman’s voice resounded across the alley outside.

After waiting for three minutes when the footsteps of the night watchman and the sound of his bamboo clapper faded away, Yan Liqiang’s eyes which had been shut all this while suddenly snapped open. A light flashed across his eyes.

He gently pushed open his window halfway. With his palms gently pressed against the window sill, he instantly leaped out of the half-open window soundlessly like an agile raccoon dog. His body did a 360-degree flip in midair before he landed on the ground of the alley outside without making any noise.

The clouds tonight were as dark as lead; the stars and the moon were dim. In a night without electricity or street lamps, the visibility in the surroundings so low that it was as though the night had sunk into a dark forest. Without a light source, the visibility range for most people was less than a meter.

Yan Liqiang had waited in the city for over two days just for tonight.

During this period of time, he persistently cultivated the eye technique from the Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing External Cultivation. In addition to the blessings he had received for his eyesight through the Nine Heavenly Bestowments, his eyes had already gained a terrifying night-vision ability before he even realized it. Nothing within the radius of a hundred meters could escape his eyes. Although objects which were a hundred meters away from him were a little blurry, he could still vaguely make out their outlines.

Yan Liqiang leaned close to the walls of the alley. He moved quickly and demonically, swift like a running horse yet soundless, exhibiting the ability of Nine Palace Wind Shadow Steps’ highest realm. Without any lights, if Yan Liqiang ran in front of a person at a meter away, that person would probably just feel a gust of cold wind and would probably even categorize him as a ghost.

In just a flash, Yan Liqiang reached the end of another bridge near the Nine Dragons Bridge.

The street which bustled with activity during the day was pitch black and completely deserted at night. The buildings on either side of the street had no lights and were in total darkness, creating an indescribably eerie atmosphere.

Yan Liqiang crossed the bridge like a black shadow in a flash, arriving at the Shatu community to the west of the Nine Dragons Bridge.

At this hour, the Shatu community was similarly in total darkness. After all, the Shatu people were also humans who needed to sleep at night. Almost everyone was already sound asleep. The only difference between here and the Chinese community east of the Nine Dragon Bridge was that the Shatu community had no night watchman. Instead, they assigned people that were armed with weapons to patrol the area.

The Shatu people had turned their community into a military barrack. But since they had already settled down into an easy and comfortable life in Pingxi City for a few decades, even if they had patrols, the Shatu people had long been lax.

Yan Liqiang had already met two teams of Shatu people patrolling the area with lanterns in their hands on the street, but he easily managed to slip past them.

Yan Liqiang was extremely familiar with the streets and alleys in the Shatu community. In just a few minutes, he was able to pass through two streets and a few alleys, arriving at a place in the northeastern part of the Shatu community.

Before Yan Liqiang was a huge warehouse which occupied up to a hundred mu which was used to store various merchandise: fur, medicinal herbs, and some precious wood types for most of the Shatu businesses in Pingxi City.

Although they appeared to be Shatu people’s goods on the surface, this warehouse was actually also the Shatu people’s arsenal in Pingxi City. Various munitions and weapons they had secretly transported inside Pingxi City were all kept here. They were so well hidden that even ordinary Shatu people wouldn’t realize that there were many important goods hidden in there.

The gate outside the warehouse was tightly locked. The walls on either side of the entrance were more than three meters high. Yan Liqiang dashed towards the wall and quietly listened for sounds before he did a half-squat and leaped two meters high. He landed quietly with one foot on top of the wall, and like a sparrowhawk, Yan Liqiang’s black silhouette flipped over to the other side of the wall.

Within the walls, one of the houses was still brightly lit. The few Shatu guards inside were responsible for keeping watch of this warehouse during the night.

The light in the room was lit to keep people away, just like the scarecrows in the rice fields. This was requested by the leader of Shatu people. Since things had been quiet for many years, the Shatu people had already grown bored.

Yan Liqiang had already determined that there were actually four Shatu people living in the house without even going near. Based on the practice here, two of the four Shatu people would come out together to do a round every two hours while the others continued to sleep in the house. But in reality, the Shatu guards here were already accustomed to patrolling the area alone so that the others could sleep longer.

Yan Liqiang quietly approached the entrance of the house. After waiting for less than ten minutes in silence, he heard some gibberish Shatu language, then the sound of someone getting up from the bed, grumbling as he got up. Just about ten seconds later, the door of the house creaked open from the inside. A Shatu man came out yawning with a lantern in his hand.

Yan Liqiang suddenly reached out to cover that Shatu man’s mouth. Then he plunged his knife into him from behind, piercing his heart.

That Shatu man collapsed limply onto the ground. Before his lantern even hit the floor, Yan Liqiang grabbed it and then immediately charged into the room.

There were four beds in the room. The other three Shatu men shielded themselves from the light outside the window and were sleeping soundly with their heads covered. Their snores filled the room. No one even sensed that Yan Liqiang had already made his way inside the house.

Yan Liqiang moved with lightning speed and quickly circled around the other three beds. With a few waves of his shortsword in the air, the three Shatu people were murdered in their sleep from being stabbed in their hearts. The snoring in the room ceased instantly and the scent of blood permeated the room. In just the blink of an eye, the four Shatu people guarding this place were dead.

Yan Liqiang blew out the lantern in his hand and put it away. He opened the door and dragged the other Shatu man at the entrance back inside. He then stabbed each of them twice again. After ensuring that these Shatu people who might even have hearts on their right side too were totally dead, Yan Liqiang picked up a key that was hanging on the wall by the door and left the small house. When he left, he didn’t forget to properly shut the door too.

Using the key he had retrieved from the room, Yan Liqiang easily opened the small side door to the warehouse which inspectors specifically used to enter the warehouse.

Although it wasn’t his first time seeing the stockpile in the warehouse, seeing it again still made Yan Liqiang silently gasp in surprise.

It was inside this warehouse that all sorts of extremely expensive leathers and furs were stacked in mountain-high piles. There were bear skins, tiger skins, and leopard skins, all of them heaped in a pile as tall as a mountain. In the midst of the pile, there were quite a few rare beast leathers and furs. Among those, the rarest beast of them all was called the cloud antelope. The cloud antelope pellet was both soft and light – it could even repel snow. A coat made with the pellet of a cloud antelope was thin enough to pass through a ring. It was said that one cloud antelope pellet was worth its weight in gold, and within this warehouse, there were over a hundred cloud antelope pellets heaped in piles.

Apart from the leathers and furs, there were all sorts of medicines and several types of expensive and rare woods.

The Shatu people brought all of these leathers, furs, medicines, and those extremely expensive woods from Mount Qiyun and the Gulang Plains. All of these things were also a big part of the trade between the Shatu people and the outside world.

Each of these items were all stacked in mountain-high piles within the warehouse.

Originally, the entities that the Shatu people partnered with was no one else’s business. However, in the last couple of years, the Shatu people had become more and more overbearing and arrogant in Pingxi City. They prohibited others from doing the same types of businesses that they were doing, especially in the wood trade as well as the leather and fur businesses. Previously, in Pingxi City, apart from the Shatu people, there were some other local shops and traders who were in the wood, leather, and fur business, Yet in the end, they were forced to stop by the Shatu people as they showed up to smash their stores and cause trouble. The local magistrates weren’t able to prosecute the offensive Shatu people due to the Writ of Grace, which basically condoned their actions. Eventually, the only people left in the wood, leather, and fur business in Pingxi City were the Shatu people.

In regards to the medicine business, the Shatu people were unable to monopolize it. This was because the Shatu people didn’t really understand the medical field and there were limitations to the type of medicines that Mount Qiyun and the Gulang Plains could produce as they were unable to completely fulfill the needs and requirements within the city. Besides, this also affected the lives of all the people within Pingxi City. There was quite a large amount of people in the medicinal herb business across the entirety of Pingxi City, and amongst those, there were a few big families and corporations with quite large powerbases who did not fear the Shatu people. After the Shatu people tried their tricks a few times without any fruitful results, they retreated and quieted themselves down.

Yan Liqiang weaved through the warehouse with familiarity, and after just a moment, he arrived in an area behind the warehouse.

Yan Liqiang pushed aside the pile of random objects such as wooden boards and gunny sacks off the floor. Beneath the pile of wooden boards and the like, a metal ring appeared. He pulled the metal ring up and a tunnel entrance heading below appeared before Yan Liqiang’s eyes.

Within Pingxi City, there weren’t many Hua tribe people who knew that the Shatu people had silently dug out a massive underground warehouse below the heaping stockpiles.

In this underground warehouse were piles full of weapons, armor, longswords, spears, bows, and arrows all in rows, piles, and bundles. The warehouse was filled to the brim, and the piles were neatly arranged. It was probably safe to say that the amount was on par with the armory within the Military Governor’s Office. It could probably easily outfit over ten thousand people.

Yan Liqiang randomly picked up a long sword next to himself. Near the hilt of the sword, there was a special branded symbol that you could barely see.

That symbol had been slightly smoothed over by someone, but you were still able to pick out the symbol, which was a ‘Gan’. This meant that this item was made within Weaponsmiths Quarter of Gan Province and was a weapon made for the state. These weapons were originally used to supply the Han Empire’s army stationed within Gan Province. However, for some reason, they had ended up in these Shatu people’s hands and they had quietly been collecting them here.

It wasn’t just this longsword; you could mostly find some traces of marks that had not been fully smoothed over on the other weapons.

Even though he had long known what these items collected here were, looking at them, Yan Liqiang couldn’t help the cold feeling rising within his heart. He also knew what these items represented.

The last time, when the importation of weapons into the city by the Shatu people was exposed, the entire thing faded into nothingness in the end as if it had never been exposed. The people who worked with the Shatu and protected them were definitely not limited to Pingxi Prefecture’s Prefectural Governor, Ye Tiancheng. Rather, they had already involved the military officials within the Great Han Empire’s Gan Province and other important personnel in the court. These personnel were highly ranked and important, but it was clear to see that they had long since been rotten from the inside.

Yan Liqiang weaved through the piles of weapons and in the blink of an eye, he arrived before the bow holder rows which the military longbows were hanging from.

Hundreds of longbows hung on those bow holders, and those longbows were also made for the military by the Weaponsmiths Quarter of Gan Province.

Within those longbows, from one stone all the way up to four stones, the strongest longbow was limited to four stones. To the troops who could use longbows, if they could pull a four stone bow, they would already be considered one of the strongest.

Yan Liqiang picked out a four stone longbow and two full quivers of arrows, slinging them onto his back. He then arrived at the underground warehouse’s back area.

At the very back of that warehouse were hundreds of closely stacked, sealed large pots. Seeing these pots, Yan Liqiang immediately grabbed one in each hand and brought it up to the upper warehouse with great haste.

Yan Liqiang walked to the front of the warehouse and smashed opened the seals on the pots. A strange, strong rosin scent immediately wafted into the air.

What the pot held was pine oil!

This was the most strictly controlled military substance in the Han Empire. In the Han Empire, apart from the military, no ordinary citizens were allowed to use pine oil. This was because pine oil’s only use was to create fires. It could be lit with a match and it was hard to put out. No one except the military could use it. Also, the cost of pine oil was exorbitant. It was hard to make, and all the pine oil refineries were controlled by the military, not to be sold in the market.

Looking at all this pine oil, if you wanted to say that the Shatu people wanted to use the pine oil to barbeque and warm themselves up in winter, who would believe you?

Yan Liqiang for one didn’t believe it.

After opening up the pine oil, Yan Liqiang acted as if he was at a water pouring festival. He poured those two pots of pine oil everywhere in the warehouse: on all the goods and on the floor, he spread it everywhere.

After the two pots were emptied out, it still wasn’t enough. So Yan Liqiang hurriedly ran back down to the underground warehouse and brought up two more pots of pine oil. He resumed by opening them up, spreading and sprinkling it everywhere.

All in all, Yan Liqiang used a full twenty minutes to bring up over thirty pots of pine oil, coating the warehouse above the ground. In the end, he finally went ahead and smashed all the pots of pine oil in the underground warehouse, causing all the pine oil to leak out. He picked up a pine oil pot and as he poured it out, he backed himself out of the underground warehouse, joining the pine oil trails across the two floors.

At this point, the entire warehouse was filled with the smell of pine oil and it was choking enough that not even a mouse could continue on.

Yan Liqiang once again retreated to the warehouse’s side door, He smashed the pine oil pot in his hand and then pulled out the firestarter he carried on his person. Opening up the firestarter, he threw it onto the floor of the warehouse. In an instant, the flame flickered and ignited the floor. Within just a few seconds, that flicker had already traveled tens of meters like a row of dominos, igniting the entire floor of the warehouse...

Looking at the burning warehouse floor, Yan Liqiang turned and rushed to the yard’s side wall. Like an owl, within a blink of an eye, he flipped over the wall and disappeared into the darkness.

Yan Liqiang sped through the alleyways and within just two minutes, he was already far away from that warehouse, over a kilometer out. He turned his head to look in the direction of the warehouse, seeing red reflecting up into the sky. It had completely gone up in flames.

Before him was a big residence and there were a few leafy citrus trees with heavy foliage on the street side not far from it. Like a monkey, he climbed onto one citrus tree branch and hid himself.

Finally, just a moment later, the light of that fire which reached towards the sky could be seen by the entirety of Pingxi City. The entire Shatu community also started to make a ruckus. The long awaited and intense sound of the gongs started to sound in the silence of the night...

Yan Liqiang didn’t have to wait too long at the top of the tree. In just a flash, light flooded the courtyard in front of him. Countless Shatu people started yelling and shouting.

He squinted his eyes and observed the situation inside the Shatu people’s big courtyard through the gaps among the lush leaves of the tree. Everything was going according to plan. Soon after that, a bearded and strong-looking Shatu man in his fifties came out from one of the rooms inside the courtyard with his clothes draped over his shoulder.

That Shatu man seemed to have been woken up by someone from his sleep. The moment he roared, everyone else in the courtyard suddenly went silent.

When that Shatu man who came out saw the blaze over at the warehouse in the distance, his countenance instantly contorted. After yelling in his gibberish-sounding Shatu language for a while, that person led a big group of Shatu people in the courtyard carrying water buckets and other tools to put out the fire without even getting properly dressed. They charged towards the warehouse that was on fire in the distance.

With this, apart from the five or six Shatu people who remained in the entire courtyard to stand guard, most of the other Shatu people rushed toward the warehouse.

The Shatu man in his fifties from earlier was the leader of the Shatu people in Pingxi City. His name was Aligujin. 99 percent of the Chinese people in Pingxi City would find this name to be unfamiliar because most of them thought that the Shatu people in Pingxi City had no leader. They were under the misconception that they were all from their respective caravans in the Shatu Seven Tribes and weren’t subordinates to each other.

A few decades ago, when the population of Shatu people in Pingxi City wasn’t as high today, they were indeed like that. The Shatu people in the city were from their respective caravans of the Shatu Seven Tribes.

The Shatu people from the Dark Razor Tribe of the Shatu Seven Tribes were the most influential ones in Pingxi City since they had the highest number of people. In the end, they treated Pingxi City like their home ground and all the Shatu people who came to Pingxi City lived under the rule of the Dark Razor Tribe.

This was a pact and compromise made internally among the Shatu people, unbeknownst to outsiders. This Aligujin was an aristocrat of the Dark Razor Tribe of the Shatu Seven Tribes.

The Shatu people in Pingxi City formed a very detached community. It was impossible for any Chinese in the city to step inside their social circle. Not only that, the Shatu people also put in effort to maintain the secrecy of their internal affairs. Therefore, the understanding and impression that ordinary people in Pingxi City had ofn those Shatu people still remained the same as more than a decade ago.

Pingxi City’s Prefectural Governor, Ye Tiancheng, knew a little about the situation regarding the Shatu people within the city because the wealthy Ye Clan of Gan Province was involved in many shady businesses and illegal dealings with the Shatu Seven Tribes. And Aligujin just so happened to be the person in Pingxi City that facilitated the talks between the Shatu Seven Tribes and Ye Tiancheng.

If it weren’t for those secrets he discovered while roaming around Pingxi City as a soul, Yan Liqiang wouldn’t possibly have known about the internal affairs of the Shatu people.

He also finally understood one thing in regards to the Ye Clan and Ye Tiancheng – the most dangerous entity to a nation and its people were not those fiendish and sinister enemies who openly carried out their evil deeds, but those corrupt officials and the filthy rich influential clans hiding within the country. They held great responsibilities in their hands, yet they sold their countries and their people out for selfish reasons. These corrupt officials and so-called wealthy and influential clans were the abscess and cancer cells of the country. So long as they weren’t removed, they’d completely devour the life of the country and push its people into the fire pits of eternal damnation sooner or later.

...

When Yan Liqiang saw Aligujin rushing in the direction of the warehouse with a group of Shatu people in tow and figured that they had probably arrived there by now, he finally moved. He slid down the tree like an agile cat and bolted a few dozen meters across the street at lightning speed. Arriving at the courtyard’s wall, he immediately flipped over to the other side like a huge bird.

When Yan Liqiang was still in midair, his hand had already made its way to his waist. The instant his body flipped over, he released four darts in succession from his hand. The four guards in the courtyard Yan Liqiang’s darts pierced their throats and they collapsed to the ground before they could even make any noises.

Without stopping for even a moment, Yan Liqiang bolted inside the manor.

He passed through a corridor. Around the corner at the end of that corridor, the murmured voices and footsteps of two Shatu people rang out from twenty meters away.

Yan Liqiang grabbed two flying needles and flung them out from his hand. After traveling over a distance of twenty meters, the two flying needles made an odd curve around the corner. The conversation between the two Shatu people instantly ceased...

When Yan Liqiang launched the two flying needles, he continued charging forward without stopping. By the time he went around the corner, the bodies of the two Shatu guards had stiffened up as they rigidly fell flat on their faces. It turned out that the two flying needles Yan Liqiang shot out had pierced into the area between their chests and abdomen.

He quickly pulled out the two flying needles from their bodies and then sliced their throats with the blade of his shortsword, instantly ending the lives of those two Shatu guards.

There was a house not too far ahead of this corridor. Yan Liqiang rushed towards the house, pushed open the door, and barged into the room without a second thought.

He found himself in place which looked like a lounge with a bedroom further inside the house.

When Yan Liqiang went in, a sexy Shatu woman was seated in front of her dressing table, clad in a thin layer of pajamas. When she heard the sound of her door being pushed open, she turned around and found herself staring at Yan Liqiang...

Before the terror in the eyes of this Shatu woman could turn into a scream, Yan Liqiang charged towards her and gave her neck a chop with his palm, instantly knocking her out in front of her dressing table.

Yan Liqiang reached his hand beneath the bed in this bedroom and fumbled around before he finally found a switch. He pressed on it as hard as he could and opened a secret compartment beneath the bed.

He pulled open the secret compartment and found a wooden box that was about two feet long and a foot wide. He opened the wooden box to reveal a dazzling sight before his eyes.

Inside the wooden box was a bunch of various pearls, jewels, and thick stacks of silver notes. Yan Liqiang emptied the contents of the box into the sack he carried on his back without any hesitation.

After he was done with that, he knocked the bottom of the wooden box and fumbled around with it for a moment before he pulled open yet another compartment at the bottom part of the wooden box.

Inside that compartment was a black porcelain bottle about the size of a palm sealed with wax, a book wrapped with silk cloth, two translucent crystals about the size of pigeon eggs that were glowed with a strange luster, and a metal cylinder about half a foot long...

Yan Liqiang didn’t know what they were either, but he figured that anything stored inside the hidden compartment of this wooden box was definitely more valuable than the pearls, jewels, and silver notes stored in the compartment above. Without thinking, he packed all these items inside his backpack too.

In just less than two minutes, Yan Liqiang managed to empty out everything that was hidden inside the secret compartment under the bed.

He gave the room a final scan before he quickly left the room with his sack. Half a minute later, Yan Liqiang had already flipped over to the other side of this big manor’s wall again and was back outside.

“HU LENG...!?” A group of about ten Shatu people holding various tools to put out the fire and lanterns just came out from the corner nearby. They seemed like they were on their way to put out the fire. When Yan Liqiang flipped over the courtyard wall, he coincidentally bumped into this group of Shatu people.

‘Hu leng’ meant ‘who’ in the Shatu language.

To answer that Shatu man, Yan Liqiang let loose an arrow.

The arrow went through the Shatu man’s open mouth and pierced through the back of his head. The impact sent the Shatu man flying backwards.

The Shatu people beside him started yelling. Some of them pulled out the scimitars they carried around and charged towards Yan Liqiang.

Yan Liqiang stood unmoving on the street. Using the fastest speed possible, he drew his bow and released about two to three arrows every second. In just five to six seconds, he shot everyone dead in the group on the main street. Not even one of them managed to escape. The formidability of archery was undoubtedly revealed at this moment.

The commotion on the main street immediately caused more clamor in the surroundings. Before the appearance of more Shatu people, Yan Liqiang’s silhouette had already blended into the darkness long ago as he bolted towards the Nine Dragons Bridge like a black shadow.

When Yan Liqiang was close to the Nine Dragons Bridge, he heard the gallops of rhinodrake steeds behind him. Some Shatu people had already come to their senses and were giving chase on their steeds, coming at him from all directions.

Yan Liqiang crossed the river and arrived at the eastern part of the Nine Dragons Bridge. He climbed up the roof of a house and after waiting in silence for a moment, he saw a group of Shatu people chasing him all the way here on their rhinodrake steeds.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

In the darkness, the longbow in Yan Liqiang’s hand was like the harbinger of death. Before any Shatu man could even ride past the Nine Dragons Bridge, all of them were already in a complete mess as Yan Liqiang shot everyone off their steeds.

After Yan Liqiang shot all the remaining twenty arrows in his quiver and ended the lives of over twenty Shatu people, he threw away his longbow and quiver. With a different voice, he laughed loudly on the roof. His voice resounded in all directions. “Grandchildren of the Shatu, your grandfather, I, King Cobra, am here! Come chase me if you don’t want your life, hahahaha!”

Upon hearing his words and the pile of corpses ahead of them, none of the Shatu people at the back dared to charge past the Nine Dragons Bridge.

Yan Liqiang leaped off the roof and disappeared into the dark alley behind the Nine Dragons Bridge like a shadow. In less than two minutes, he found himself somewhere around the small building that he was renting. After ensuring that no one was around, he hopped over the fence and landed in his courtyard.

He went into the building, closed his windows, changed his clothes, and took off his mask. Yan Liqiang almost couldn’t hold his own laughter back...

He put away the black backpack in his room and climbed onto his bed...

In just a short while, he heard the military horses in the city gallop towards the Nine Dragons Bridge.

It seemed like things would get lively again...

For the rest of the night, the clamor outside the window never died down.

While lying on his bed, Yan Liqiang could still hear the sounds of people running past the alley outside from time to time. He slept extremely soundly on his bed, not worried about being discovered in the slightest.

In an era without any cameras, big data, tracking dogs, or even a complete criminal investigation method, everything could only be done by relying on manpower. It was nearly impossible to track a non-existent individual in a city as large as Pingxi City.

Putting aside this era, even in his previous life, one would know if they referenced the Elisa Lam incident. In the country which was known as the ‘Light of the World’, in a hotel where cameras were installed everywhere and the suspect was definitely among the limited selection pool of people, a Chinese girl had died just like that while her murderer got away with the crime. This was true reality.

And what was the main point about this? Everyone knew the person who had done these deeds was the wanted criminal, King Cobra. When he was still a penniless brat, King Cobra was already roaming around, committing crimes everywhere and earning his infamous reputation. Not only that, even his own father was one of King Cobra’s victims. Who would possibly think that this ‘King Cobra’ was actually Yan Liqiang?

...

Therefore, as long as he wasn’t stopped by anyone at the scene when he was leaving last night, he wouldn’t have anything to worry about. With just the few bailiffs in Pingxi City, it was impossible for them to find him even if they morphed themselves into Sherlock Holmes.

Clues and logical reasoning were vital for Sherlock Holmes to solve cases. However, there was no logic to the things that Yan Liqiang had done and they couldn’t be logically explained. Up to this point, he was still nothing but a stranger to those Shatu people and the Ye Clan; he was merely an irrelevant and insignificant individual.

As usual, Yan Liqiang woke up before sunrise. After training his eye and ear techniques along with his morning regime in peace, Yan Liqiang took out the stuff he raked in last night, placed them on his bed, and started doing an inventory check.

Yan Liqiang was quite impressed by his own patience for being able to leave these in the house alone for an entire night before checking on them the next day.

When he opened the black sack, the most dazzling items of them all were still those colorful jewels and pearls. Each and every single one of them was of the finest quality. Each of those red and blue jewels about the size of a dragon’s eye. Those diamonds and the pile of extremely expensive-looking and exquisite jewelry could really bedazzle one’s eyes.

Although Yan Liqiang wasn’t sure about the market price of these jewels and pearls, he was certain that the value of these jewels and pearls before his eyes were worth at least ten thousand taels of gold if their worth were to be measured in gold.

Even though Yan Liqiang wasn’t particularly an avaricious person, his eyes couldn’t help but shine as his face involuntary broke into a dumb smile while he drooled at the sight of these precious treasures for the very first time in both his previous and current lifetime. He wasn’t sure how these Shatu people managed to get these items in their hands, but it no longer mattered because from now on, these items belonged to the Yan Clan.

If the values of things like jewels and pearls were very difficult to estimate, then the value of those thick silver promissory notes would be a lot more straightforward as the amount of silver which could be exchanged for every silver promissory note was written on them.

A silver promissory note had two face values – five thousand taels and ten thousand taels. These were the most commonly seen denominations of silver promissory notes issued by the monetary house. After Yan Liqiang was done checking, there were 42 pieces of 5,000-taels silver promissory notes, totaling 210,000 taels of silver and 28 pieces of 10,000-taels silver promissory notes which totaled 280,000 taels of silver. With these two combined, the value of all silver promissory notes made up a grand total of exactly 490,000 taels of silver.

490,000 taels of silver was an astronomical figure. After Yan Liqiang recounted another two rounds and verified the amount, he couldn’t help but be stunned.

All the silver promissory notes were issued by Datong Monetary House. Hence, there was no need for any ciphers. They were the most widely circulated and best trusted promissory notes which were exchangeable on sight. The Datong Monetary House was also the most famous monetary house in the northwestern provinces of the Great Han Empire. Even the government and military funds in the northwestern provinces were all handled by the Datong Monetary House.

Although Yan Liqiang didn’t know what was inside the black bottle which had been sealed with wax, he didn’t hastily unseal it either. However, he saw three small words at the bottom of that black bottle –’Soul Reaping Poison’.

Yan Liqiang didn’t know what Soul Reaping Poison was, but if those Shatu people had especially hidden this bottle of poison in the hidden compartment of that box, then it must be an extremely important item.

That black metal cylinder that was half a foot long was quite heavy on the hand, and Yan Liqiang had no idea what it was either. He examined it for a moment and found a mechanism that could be pressed at the bottom of that metal cylinder. On the other end of that metal cylinder was a sieve which had a hole about the size of a soybean in it.

The ring of patterns beside the mechanism could be also be pressed. Within the patterned ring was an inscription of three Chinese characters – Dragon Demon Island.

Dragon Demon Island? Where was that place? Yan Liqiang had no idea either. But of course, he wasn’t stupid enough to press that mechanism to see how that metal cylinder would react. He pondered about it for half a day and came to a conclusion that this metal cylinder appeared to be a weapon, a hidden weapon or the like. Since he couldn’t figure out what it would do, he could only set it aside for now.

Yan Liqiang picked up the two items which were about the size of pigeon eggs. They glowed with a strange luster, and he examined it for a long while. Similarly, he couldn’t figure what they were. At this point in time, Yan Liqiang finally realized that he was still too ignorant and inexperienced. Within this pile of items, there were actually three items he couldn’t identify.

Yan Liqiang raked his brain, then set those two pigeon egg-like items down again.

Out of everything in there, there was only one remaining item – the thing which looked like a book that had been wrapped in a red silk cloth.

Yan Liqiang unwrapped the layers of silk cloth, revealing a blood-soaked manual before his eyes.

The impact of that manual was too shocking, especially with those bloodstains on it. It felt as though half of the entire manual had been soaked in blood. Yan Liqiang couldn’t help but feel a chill in his heart.

On the cover of that once blood-soaked book was a discolored title –’Five Elemental Poison King Divine Technique’.

This manual had once again corroborated Yan Liqiang’s ignorance and inexperience. However, upon seeing the manual’s title, Yan Liqiang couldn’t stop himself from skimming through the contents to satisfy his curiosity.

The moment he started it, he could no longer tear his gaze away from the manual as a world beyond his imagination unfolded before his eyes...

Yan Liqiang spent half an hour to finish reading the ‘Five Elemental Poison King Divine Technique’ manual.

Thanks to his highly retentive memory, Yan Liqiang’s memory was nearly photographic. Therefore, after reading the ‘Five Elemental Poison King Divine Technique’ manual once, the content of the manual was completely imprinted in his mind.

He never thought that such a technique could even exist in this world.

The ‘Five Elemental Poison King Divine Technique’ was a bizarre technique. The biggest difference between this technique and the rest was the fact that it was an overpowered support technique.

Only Martial Warriors who have established their dantian could cultivate this technique. If a practitioner wished to cultivate this technique, he would have to swallow and harmonize with core crystals of poisonous beasts which represented the gold, wood, water, fire, and earth elements as foundation. Upon succeeding in this technique, a mysterious Five Elemental Poison King Core Crystal would form in the practitioner’s dantian. When this Five Elemental Poison King Divine Core Crystal integrated itself with the practitioner’s inner strength, the practitioner would mysteriously be imbued with the power of poison and would gain the ability to use poison.

Such a technique was unheard and unseen of. The fact that such a profoundly strange secret technique existed in this world was beyond Yan Liqiang’s imagination.

According to the ‘Five Elemental Poison King Divine Technique’, after a Five Elemental Poison Core Crystal formed in the practitioner’s dantian, he would become immune to hundreds of types of poisons and any sort of venom. At the same time, as the practitioner’s cultivation rank would increase, and the poison derived from the Five Elemental Poison King Core Crystal in the practitioner’s body would become increasingly pure and powerful. The Five Elemental Poison King Core Crystal would also continuously fuse with the core crystals of other poisonous beasts through the Five Elemental Derivation, thus deriving the poisons of other poisonous beasts.

Most importantly, the practitioner capable of forming the Five Elemental Poison King Core Crystal wouldn’t turn into some kind of ‘poisonous being’ or ‘monster’. All their bodily functions would still remain normal and there would be no noticeable changes in their outward appearance. Therefore, as long as the practitioner didn’t exhibit this technique and activate the Five Elemental Poison King Core Crystal in their body, no one would even notice the practitioner’s cultivation of this technique.

Damn, this technique could really turn a person into a portable chemical weapon manufacturing factory! Not only that, this factory could also progressively and constantly update its poison manufacturing mechanisms.

After he finished reading the secret manual, Yan Liqiang couldn’t help but be amazed in his heart.

Thinking about it, if he could master this technique, he wouldn’t need to waste that much effort in looking for poisonous snakes and snake venom to help coat his flying needles. He had a hunch that adding poison to his flying needles through this technique was not the only thing he would be capable of: he’d also be able to use different types of poisons. This was because as soon as soon as the Five Elemental Poison King Core Crystal formed, he would be able to handle five different types of poisons.

It was also after reading the ‘Five Elemental Poison King Divine Technique’ secret manual that Yan Liqiang finally understood what those two strange, glowing pigeon egg-like things were that he had discovered at the bottom of the wooden box. If he wasn’t wrong, those two items were most likely the core crystals of poisonous beasts.

From their colors, the gold one was probably the core crystal of an earth-elemental beast while the azure one was the core crystal of a water-elemental beast. Since Yan Liqiang hadn’t cultivated his inner force, he didn’t know what kind of beasts these two core crystals originated from. If he had cultivated his inner force, he would be able to find out by channeling his inner force into those core crystals.

The ‘Five Elemental Poison King Divine Technique’ wasn’t a secret technique that was passed down by the Shatu people. Therefore, they must have obtained this secret technique from somewhere else. Not only that, there was a high possibility that the Shatu people had obtained this secret manual and those two beast core crystals at the same time.

The color of the bloodstain on the secret manual still seemed to be quite fresh. It would appear that it was soaked in blood not that long ago, perhaps no older than two years ago. Though Yan Liqiang had no idea how the blood got on there in the first place, just by using a little bit of imagination, one would be able to figure out that the secret manual did not peacefully fall into the hands of those Shatu people.

The ‘Five Elemental Poison King Divine Technique’ was extremely extraordinary and formidable. Yan Liqiang felt a rush of excitement just by reading the content. However, since he wasn’t even a Martial Warrior yet, he could only swallow his saliva and read. Even if he progressed into a Martial Warrior, he still wouldn’t be able to cultivate this technique without the corresponding core crystals.

Since core crystals had always been rare, the poisonous beast cores crystals were even rarer to come by, especially those with properties of the five elements. Yan Liqiang had no idea where to even start looking for them.

After repetitively examining the contents of his sack for a while, Yan Liqiang put everything back inside. He then picked up the sack, made a leap, and latched onto one of the pillars in his room Like a big frog. With another backflip and twist of his body, he made it onto the beam which was about four meters above the ground. He then treaded along the beam to the upper part of the room’s wall. He felt around on the partition wall, then took out a dagger and inserted it into a crack in the wall. With a light pry, he removed two bricks and then shoved that black sack into the empty space behind the bricks.

After putting the bricks back into their original positions, Yan Liqiang jumped off from the beam and dusted his hands with a smile on his face. With this, even if someone came to search the place when he wasn’t around, it would be impossible to find that the things he had hidden in the partition as long as his identity wasn’t exposed.

He purposely even left some clothes and silver fragments along with some copper coins in his closet to satisfy any thieves who might sneak in.

Just when he was done with this, a commotion could be heard coming from the alley downstairs. Shortly after that, someone banged loudly on the main entrance of his courtyard.

Yan Liqiang straightened his clothes and scanned his bedroom once. After ensuring that everything was in place, he went downstairs to open the door to his courtyard.

A few people stood at the entrance. One of them was the old man who had rented this house to Yan Liqiang. Beside the old man was a bailiff, a paunchy middle-aged man, and a few other busybodies.

“Look, Captain Wu. This is the young man who is renting my place. He’s not a bad person. He’s actually a student from the martial arts academy in the city!” The old man immediately turned to the paunchy middle-aged man and told him when he saw Yan Liqiang come out.

“Master Xue, is something wrong?” Yan Liqiang asked the old man.

The old man smiled, “Oh it’s nothing. The captain and this bailiff came early in the morning and wanted to check every house in our alley to see if there were any fugitives hiding in here. I just followed them to look around...”

That bailiff asked Yan Liqiang, “You are a student from the martial arts academy?”.

“Yes!”

“Which year did you enter?”

“This year!”

“What’s your name?”

“Yan Liqiang!”

“I believe you have a student pass?”

“Yes, please have a look!” Yan Liqiang took out his martial arts academy identity pass and handed it over.

The bailiff examined Yan Liqiang’s identity pass carefully before his expression softened a little. Students from the martial arts academy really shouldn’t be offended unnecessarily because by the time these people left the martial arts academy, they just might be at a better position than him in less than two years time.

The bailiff returned the identity pass to Yan Liqiang. “This place is quite far from the martial arts academy, why didn’t you choose to live in Three Yuan Street?”

“The rent here is a lot cheaper than Three Yuan Street. I should scrimp and save my family’s money as much as I can. Besides, the distance isn’t too much of a hassle. Young people still have strength in their legs!”

“So, you live here alone?”

“Yes, it’s just me here!”

“Can I have a look inside?”

“Please come in...”

The bailiff, landlord, and captain entered the courtyard together. The bailiff made a few rounds in a few of the rooms. He opened and checked the cabinets. He even laid down on his stomach to check underneath the bed. After inquiring the old man if they had any places like basements or the like in the house and getting a negative response, the three of them got prepared to leave. The captain was going to lead them to search the next house.

“Excuse me, Sir. Did something happen? Why is every house being searched? Are you looking for someone...?”

When the few people were about to exit, Yan Liqiang ‘finally’ couldn’t help but ask. “King Cobra has committed another crime. He killed quite a number of Shatu people last night and also set a warehouse on fire over at the Shatu community...” The bailiff answered casually while walking.

“I thought King Cobra did a great thing instead. Some should have finished off those damn Shatu people a long time ago. Look at those Shatu people at the western side of the Nine Dragons Bridge, they all wilted overnight...” The landlord disagreed and started laughing mischievously.

“Ahem... Ahem...” The captain cleared his throat and put on a serious face. “Old Xue, stop your drivel...”

“Even if I didn’t point it out, everyone else is saying the same thing too...” The old man muttered under his breath.

“What’s wrong with saying that? Everyone who heard the news is happy to see those Shatu people out of luck. That King Cobra has really done a great thing for Pingxi City!” Someone immediately shouted from the crowd.

The bailiff and captain could only pretend they didn’t hear anything.

Half an hour later, Yan Liqiang went to the main street and realized that the street was filled with patrolling soldiers. The moment he went inside the noodle shop, he heard a few customers talking about the incident from last night with great interest over their noodles. Everyone else around them instantly perked up their ears. Some were listening so intently that they had forgotten about their noodles.

“Did you hear? King Cobra burned down the Shatu people’s warehouse in the city last night. Those Shatu people must have suffered a great loss! They said everything in the warehouse was burnt to ashes with nothing left behind. The loss was estimated to be at least over several thousand taels of silver!”

“I heard quite a lot of Shatu people died?”

“At least forty to fifty of them...”

“I heard up to a hundred. One of my brothers works at the Law Enforcement Office. He told me that all of them were killed by King Cobra! Quite a few of them were also burned to their deaths in their sleep at the warehouse. Those Shatu dogs really got it this time! Haha!”

“That should have happened long ago!” An uncle exclaimed delightfully while slapping his thigh. “If there were a few more King Cobras, the Shatu people in the city wouldn’t dare to be this arrogant!”

“True. If the government can’t manage them, then they should just leave it up to King Cobra...”

Yan Liqiang didn’t expect the commoners in Pingxi City to actually get a kick out of last night’s incident.

Before he could even finish his bowl of noodles, a bailiff came in and immediately posted up a wanted poster of King Cobra in the noodle shop.

The wanted poster of King Cobra was still the same King Cobra. However, the bounty had suddenly increased to a thousand taels of gold. Compared to before, that was at least tenfold more...

On the 30th day of the tenth lunar month at night, the fire Yan Liqiang had started in the Shatu community had once again caused an uproar in Pingxi City.

People who initially thought that King Cobra had left long ago only realized now that King Cobra had never left. Not only that, he once again committed a crime which was a hundred times crazier than the last when he had killed Wang Haofei at the Plum Gardens.

King Cobra had burned most of the important supplies in the Shatu people’s warehouse to the ground in Pingxi City. The amount of silver that those Shatu people lost was difficult to calculate. Not only that, King Cobra continued his massacre on the Shatu people’s territory with a warbow.

King Cobra might have only killed a few dozen Shatu people, but along with the different rumors that were appearing, the figure was rapidly shooting up. In just a short two days, the number of Shatu people he had killed had already risen to more than three hundred from the version he had heard.

One of the most outrageous rumors said that when King Cobra set the warehouse on fire, there were actually more than two hundred Shatu people sleeping in there and none of them managed to escape the fire.

As supporting evidence to this rumor, it was said that when the guards in Pingxi City realized that the Shatu people’s warehouse was on fire that night, there was already a battalion of guards rushing somewhere near the burning warehouse in the Shatu community. However, they were stopped by those Shatu people who didn’t want the guards in Pingxi City anywhere near their burning warehouse. Even when they were finally cleaning up the warehouse in the end, they still didn’t allow the guards to come close. The reason behind their action was that they didn’t want others in Pingxi City to know that King Cobra burned more than two hundred Shatu people to death in the warehouse.

This rumor was so vivid and realistic that many people in Pingxi City actually believed it. However, Yan Liqiang knew that the thing about two hundred Shatu people being burned alive in the warehouse was total nonsense. There was only one reason why the Shatu people didn’t want the guards of Pingxi City anywhere near that warehouse – they didn’t want them to discover the secret of that arsenal beneath the warehouse to avoid more trouble.

The fire from that evening lasted nearly the entire night. Under such high temperature, even steel could have melted at the scene. Therefore, without a doubt, everything hidden in the weapon storage at the bottom of that warehouse basically turned into scrap with nothing much left. This was indeed the biggest loss to the Shatu people.

The Shatu people thought their secret was safe, but Yan Liqiang stole a warbow from their warehouse last night and discarded that warbow somewhere near the end of the eastern side of the Nine Dragons Bridge. That warbow had a distinct mark that represented the Gan Province’s Weaponsmiths Quarter. Therefore, it was a very important clue. The first to arrive at the Nine Dragons Bridge that night were the guards in the city. If this warbow fell into their hands, the wiser among their garrison would probably figure something out from that warbow. This was the most he could do at this point in time, as a friendly reminder...

The Shatu people were colluding with the Ye Clan. Now that he had done something like this on the Shatu people’s territory in Pingxi City, whether the Shatu people would make a fuss over it or not, as long as King Cobra wasn’t brought to justice, Pingxi Prefectural Governor Ye Tiancheng would be caught in the middle and he would face immense pressure from all directions...

Therefore, ever since the 31st day of the tenth lunar month, all of Pingxi City was restless and filled with people who were searching for King Cobra.

All the bailiffs in the Law Enforcement Office, the soldiers from the defensive military barracks in Pingxi City, the rogues and lower-ranking officials in the city, and the students of the martial arts academy were mobilized to search high and low for King Cobra. Those inspections performed on anyone leaving the city grew increasingly strict to an unimaginable extent. Individuals were not only inspected – even the bags they brought along with them had to be checked. All carriages and goods leaving the city were also inspected.

On the morning of the first day of the eleventh lunar month, Yan Liqiang initially planned to spend some time in the martial arts academy’s library to do some research. He remembered that although there were no secret martial arts manuals in the library, there were still countless miscellaneous manuals, old articles, records, pictures, biographies, and the like in addition to the classic literature, historical, and philosophical ancient records. He couldn’t stop thinking that the metal cylinder he found would come in handy. Yet he just couldn’t figure out what it exactly was. Therefore, he wished to search around the library to see if he could find any relevant information which might resolve the doubts he had in his heart.

However, he didn’t expect the moment he arrived at the martial arts academy, he would be levied by the martial arts academy to be sent on a search for King Cobra, as part of the so-called ‘training’.

The Pingxi Prefecture Martial Arts Academy had their students get into groups of three. Each group of student carried one bow, two whistling arrows, a wanted poster of King Cobra, and three swords. They hung their student identity tags at a noticeable spot on their waists before they were all scattered to every corner of Pingxi City to find King Cobra...

When Yan Liqiang, Shi Dafeng, and Shen Teng voluntarily grouped themselves together, they coincidentally were assigned together too.

...

“Rumors have it that King Cobra is a vicious and merciless mass murderer. Not only that, he is also extremely skilled in archery. If the three of us really run into King Cobra, we don’t even know if we can survive. The martial arts academy has sent us out because they don’t even care about our lives and deaths! F*ck them all!” Shi Dafeng, who had always been frank and straightforward, started cursing furiously the moment they exited the martial arts academy’s main entrance. “That King Cobra only killed a few Shatu dogs and the entire city flew into panic while everyone searched for him. Even the bounty has increased tenfold. Why was the bounty reward not as high when he murdered someone back in the Plum Gardens last time? Are the lives of those Shatu people much more valuable than us, the Han Chinese? F*ck this sh*t!”

“You can’t put it that way.” Shen Teng cooly flung his bangs away. “After all, the prefecture provides annual funds for the martial arts academy. Now that the Prefectural Governor is worked up over capturing King Cobra and mobilizing everyone he possibly can in the Pingxi City, the martial arts academy will have to at least put up a show on the surface. That way, they will look better in front of the Prefectural Governor and won’t get on his bad side. Otherwise, the academy tutors of this martial arts would end up cold and hungry on the streets at the lift of the Prefectural Governor’s finger. We don’t need to take this so seriously either, just take it as coming out for a stroll. That King Cobra can hide so well that he can appear and disappear so unpredictably. He is definitely not someone we can just run into so easily on the streets.”

“Shen Teng really gets it. Hey, Liqiang, what’s with that strange look on your face?”

“Ahem, ahem... N-Nothing...” Naturally, Yan Liqiang wasn’t going to tell them that the way Shen Teng flung his hair instantly reminded him a viral GIF of Wang Bo flipping his hair while carrying a shoulder pole. That was the reason why he had a strange look on his face because he nearly couldn’t contain his laughter. He had to pretend to cough a few times to cover it up.

“No way. You’re being dishonest, Liqiang. You must be thinking about something just now!” Shi Dafeng continued pestering him.

“Actually, I was thinking about how we are making such a fuss in the city here. What if King Cobra already fled from the city long ago? After all, the city walls aren’t really some impassable barriers for heinous criminals like him. I heard some people from extremely high realms can actually make it over the city walls as though they are walking on flat ground...”

“Yan Liqiang’s right. The city walls of Pingxi City won’t be able to stop experts who have cultivated those profound lightness skill techniques. But I heard King Cobra isn’t a Martial Master yet, so he shouldn’t have such an ability...” Shen Teng said with a serious look on his face.

“Hm, seems like I was overthinking then...” Yan Liqiang said.

“But maybe that King Cobra might have some sneaky ways. For instance, if he used something like a grapple, then it would not be difficult for him to scale up the wall when no one is paying attention. If the soldiers who guard the city at night get slightly careless and doze off for a moment, King Cobra would be able to escape. Even if the soldiers at the city walls later realize that someone has escaped, they probably won’t dare to make a report and will only choose to feign ignorance – because if they did, they would have to shoulder the blame. If no one says anything, then everyone will just continue to feign ignorance. So what you said might be possible, Liqiang...” Shen Teng justified Yan Liqiang’s conjecture. After taking a glance at the longbow Yan Liqiang carried on his back, he asked him a question. “Oh that reminds me, I’ve never seen you practice archery Liqiang. How skillful are you with a bow?”

“I’m not really skilled in archery. I can only barely draw a bow and release an arrow at most. Whether I can hit any target within fifty meters will all depend on sheer luck. These whistling arrows only need to be released for signaling. I’m just carrying it since that tutor just passed them to me...” Yan Liqiang shook his head like a rattle-drum and then continued to ask the question Shen Teng was waiting for him to ask. “Oh right, how’s your cultivation in archery coming along, Brother Shen?”

The slightly aloof Shen Teng smiled complacently. He inhaled and stuck his chest out. “I have just advanced into the first layer of archery two weeks ago...”

“Wow!” Yan Liqiang put on a ‘shocked’ and ‘astonished’ expression. “Well, I will have to seek guidance from you in the future, Brother Shen. Oh right, I think it’ll be best for Brother Shen to carry this bow and the whistling arrows then. In case something happens, these things would be more useful in Brother Shen’s hands than mine...”

While speaking, Yan Liqiang hurriedly took off the bow and arrows and sincerely handed them over to Shen Teng.

“Alright, I will carry them then...” Shen Teng didn’t decline and carried them on his back rather proudly.

“I know a place in the eastern part of the city which serves particularly great hotpot. Since the weather is a little cold today and King Cobra is also a human, perhaps he might think of going there to eat some hotpot. Why don’t we eat there while we wait and see if King Cobra will appear? Of course, to celebrate Shen Teng advancing past the first layer in archery, this hotpot will be Shen Teng’s treat!” Shi Dafeng suddenly spoke up.

Yan Liqiang was quiet for a moment before he nodded vigorously. “That’s a fine idea! Let’s go to this place that Brother Shi speaks of and eat some hotpot while we wait and see if King Cobra will come. If he dares to come, we will immediately release a whistling arrow!”

Shen Teng was quiet for a longer moment before he also nodded. With a serious face, he said, “Who knows, maybe King Cobra might have already fled from Pingxi City long ago and is also an old glutton!”

After taking a few steps, the three of them burst out laughing at the same time...

...

By noon, the weather outside had turned cold and windy. The three of them exited the town and had hotpot in an eatery outside the eastern city gate. They had a long, pleasant talk about life over some yellow wine...

Halfway through their hotpot, the hasty sounds of iron hooves rang out and stopped right outside of the eatery. Two people then came inside the eatery.

Both of the people who came in were strongly built and had fierce gazes. They carried swords and blades, and they were fully armored. They also had thick capes draped over their bodies. One of them carried a huge bow bag on his back while the other carried a crossbow case on his back. Both of them wore red headbands over their foreheads. The way they dressed was extremely distinct and this made them look like they had quite some personality.

“Waiter, serve us some good hot food and drinks first!” Both of them set the things they carried on their backs noisily on the table, with an impact that nearly broke the table. One of the guys who just set his stuff down turned his head around and yelled.

...

“Wanderers... Those two are Wanderers.” Shen Teng threw both of them a glance before he spoke with a surprised tone. “I’m guessing they’ve been allured by bounty reward for King Cobra here. After all, a reward of a thousand taels of gold isn’t a small fortune...”

Wanderers were a special community in the Great Han Empire that roamed everywhere. The community was courageous, fierce, and helped those in distress. At the same time, they were also akin to those money-chasing bounty hunters whom Yan Liqiang had seen in the movies in his previous life. Wanderers were from different social classes in society. Even the youths among the wealthy and influential clans became part of this community because they yearned to live the lives of Wanderers. The community was diverse in terms of gender and age groups. The only requirement to become part of this community was to possess solid skills and cultivation.

Yan Liqiang stole another few glances at these two Wanderers because it was also his first time seeing any here in Pingxi City. Both of them seemed to be sharp too. One of them immediately sensed Yan Liqiang’s gaze when he took a few more looks at them. He snapped his head around and his sharp gaze fell on Yan Liqiang’s table before he nonchalantly looked away after discovering there were only three curious youths sitting at that table.

In just less than ten minutes, shortly after the two Wanderers started digging into their meals, iron hooves sounded again from outside the eatery. In just the blink of an eye, another person who appeared to be a swordsman came into the shop.

The three Wanderers looked at each other and didn’t say a single word to each other. The other Wanderer then found a seat a little further away from the two Wanderers’ table and beckoned for the waiter.

By the time the Wanderer started eating his meal, the other two who arrived earlier were already done. They left some money on the table, grabbed their bows and crossbows, picked up their other weapons, and left the eatery.

...

Yan Liqiang squinted his eyes slightly while he watched the leaving silhouettes of those two Wanderers with a pensive look on his face...

Ever since the first day of the eleventh lunar month, more and more Wanderers with red headscarves and traveling figures started appearing in Pingxi City, causing the city to become increasingly lively...

Following the non-stop arrival of many Wanderers, the atmosphere in Pingxi City was on the rise.

In a few short days, it was as if the entire province’s Wanderers had rushed to Pingxi City. In the main streets of the city, within the restaurants, you could see those Wanderers everywhere with their red headbands tied around their foreheads. They wore full martial regalia and carried their bows on their backs without concern.

King Cobra had yet to be caught, but with the arrival of these Wanderers, it had become a giant test of peacekeeping within Pingxi City. For the enforcers from the city’s Law Enforcement Office, putting aside King Cobra, they already had enough trouble and were being run ragged on a day-to-day basis dealing with these Wanderers. Each Wanderer was not only a skilled warrior – they were also untameable – to expect these Wanderers to follow the rules was completely impossible. Not to mention, those Wanderers were already used to and had great experience in dealing with bureaucrats and the Law Enforcement Office. Even if you knew that some things were caused by the Wanderers, there was nothing you could do about it.

During the day, it was alright. Those Wanderers only wandered around a bit outside. But once night fell and the sky darkened, those Wanderers would be on the move – each of them wore a black scarf to hide their face as they started to go from wall to wall within Pingxi City, looking for clues while disregarding the law.

Even the small room that Yan Liqiang had rented near Nine Dragons Bridge was searched through for two nights. It was just that Yan Liqiang only pretended to be oblivious and asleep – those people that were investigating only opened up the roof tiles to have a look. After finding nothing, they left.

Since King Cobra had done his business at the Shatu people’s quarters, once those Wanderers arrived in Pingxi City, many of them went to investigate that area.

However, the Shatu people within Pingxi City had long been spoilt and arrogant. Though their area was within Pingxi City, they had long since considered the west side of Pingxi City to be their self-sufficient, self-governed territory. Even Pingxi City’s bailiffs found it hard to get in under normal circumstances.

After this, the area where the Shatu people converged suddenly became very popular.

The government officials and normal people within Pingxi City all weren’t willing to upset those Shatu people, but those Wanderers didn’t care at all. From the 2nd of eleventh lunar month onwards, for several nights in a row, there were incidents in the area the Shatu people lived.

First, it was some Shatu scouting groups who had some run-ins with the Wanderers in their area. A few of the Shatu scouts died from that. Afterwards, there were fires two nights in a row in the Shatu people’s quarters. When the 5th of the eleventh lunar month came along, Yan Liqiang even heard that the Shatu people went to the Law Enforcement Office to report an offense, saying that several people had mysteriously disappeared from their quarters overnight.

The fate of those missing Shatu people wasn’t of much interest to Yan Liqiang. Based off the case of the missing Shatu people, he instead was interested in was the fact that he could tell that out of the Wanderers that were currently in Pingxi City, there were some that were not only courageous but also intelligent. They had already discovered King Cobra’s values, which could be worth well over the bounty of one thousand taels of gold.

This was because during the night of the incident, it wasn’t just one warehouse that was targeted. The real loss for the Shatu people were those things that went missing from Aligujin’s residence. It was just that the latter was never advertised by the Shatu people, and therefore the people within Pingxi city did not know much about it. However, in reality, when Yan Liqiang had left Aligujin’s place, he still left quite a lot of clues. He killed many Shatu people while he was leaving. He specifically killed them during the time that Aligujin had left his residence and when all of the Shatu people were lured away by the warehouse fire. If someone was observant enough to look into the time and place of King Cobra’s first appearance that night, then they would probably discover something.

After all, a move like luring the tiger out of the cave wasn’t something that was too intelligent. It was just that the target involved in it couldn’t uncover the truth.

It was naturally impossible to find out what had happened that night from the Shatu people. But if you kidnapped a few Shatu people and used a few tricks, those Wanderers that had gathered in Pingxi City could definitely piece together the majority of what had happened that night. They might even be able to discover the secret of what had laid beneath that burned down warehouse.

Also, anyone wanting to leave Pingxi City over the last few days had to have their personal belongings checked, which was a change from the norm. The word on the street was that this sort of check at the city gates was not only to catch King Cobra. To catch him, you didn’t need to check everyone’s personal belongings and luggage. This sort of detailed search could only be attributed to the fact that on King Cobra’s person, there was probably something worth an enormous amount of money.

Yan Liqiang didn’t know if the Wanderers were communicating with each other, but within a few short days, he could clearly feel that the Wanderers within Pingxi City were increasing in numbers; those Wanderers were also becoming much bolder.

Apart from appearing in the Shatu people’s territory, in the last few days, when night fell, the richer households in Pingxi City would also be disturbed by those Wanderers. You could almost hear about those household security personnel having run-ins with the Wanderers on a daily basis. At the Law Enforcement Office, the number of cases and complaints about stolen valuables also dramatically increased.

There were honorable ones amongst the Wanderers, but there was no lack of those who were less scrupulous: they were willing to label themselves as Robin Hood to steal from the rich and to give to the poor when they were short on gold by doing some shady business. Even worse, the petty criminals within Pingxi City took this opportunity to also come out of the woodworks.

During the night, when those Wanderers were on the move, they were always wearing a headscarf or something to cover their features. As long as you didn’t catch them in the act, even if you knew one of the Wanderers in the city had done it, you still wouldn’t be able to find them.

Apart from the breakdown of security inside the city, the check at the city gates also became very detailed and a waste of time. Every day, outside Pingxi City gates, it was blocked for several hundred meters by people and carts. If you wanted to go out of the city, you had to wait for at least an hour in line at the gates. All the citizens of the city complained...

In a few short days, the entirety of Pingxi City became a zoo; it was utter pandemonium. If you walked onto the main streets to have a look at any time, you would see many armed people around, several times the number there were previously.

Due to the security of Pingxi City suddenly becoming a disaster, with too many random people hanging about on the streets along with the apparent disappearance of King Cobra, the martial arts academy made their new students go out onto the streets to look for him. When the 7th of elevent lunar month rolled around, the martial arts academy also stopped forcing all their new students onto the streets on a daily basis. Of course, if you wanted to, the martial arts academy wouldn’t stop you. In fact, they might even offer you a few words of praise.

It was also on the 7th of eleventh lunar month that Yan Liqiang walked into the library at the Martial Academy. After borrowing a large amount of historical and cultural texts as cover, he also borrowed another pile of other types of books and started to rapidly flip through them rapidly in the library.

Good things came to those who waited, and Yan Liqiang finally found the answer he was seeking in a book called the ‘Gifted Soldiers Manual’.

That blackish metal cylinder’s real name was called the Thunderfire Dragon Cannon. A secretive sect called the Dragon Demon Island Sect that existed outside the bounds of the Han Empire created them and each Thunderfire Dragon Cannon could only be used once. When used, the cannon would spit out terrifying, high-temperature fire dragons that could cover great distances. It could melt metal within ten zhang and could not be shielded against. This Thunderfire Dragon Cannon was considered a simple killing method for close distances. From the book, people whose cultivation level was less than Martial Grandmaster could possibly find it difficult to safely combat the firepower of the Thunderfire Dragon Cannon.

And from another book, Yan Liqiang found another answer.

He obtained the thing within the black bottle that was sealed inside with wax – that was a soul-stealing poison, a type of terrifying poison that originated from the Han Empire’s Death Valley. This type of poison did not have color or substance and it easily blended in with water. Using just one drop mixed with food could kill hundreds of people. If you put it on your weapon, it was like antiaris toxicaria, it could kill within the blink of an eye.

Now knowing what the uses were for those two things he had on hand, Yan Liqiang quickly put one of them into use.

After a week’s worth of silence, Yan Liqiang began moving once again...

The eleventh lunar month, Gu Yue, held the meaning of discarding the old and ushering in the new. As the old saying goes, the eleventh month was when the Yin is born, and all mortals should leave all negative issues aside and get ready to usher in the new and positive year...

...

The eleventh lunar month was a very special month. It was in this month, or to be more accurate, it was on the 18th day of the eleventh lunar month when Yan Liqiang’s life suddenly faced a great change and abruptly came to an end. Now that this month had arrived, Yan Liqiang would have to be more prudent of his actions. At the same time, the raging flames of vengeance burned even more intensely in his heart.

Around eleven o’clock in the evening, when it was bitterly cold on the night of the 12th day of the eleventh lunar month, Yan Liqiang crouched among the bushes of the mountain near Wuyang Village. He kept his eyes wide-open as he endured the cold, staring unblinkingly at a mountain cave two hundred meters away from him in the mountain valley. He’d been crouching there for more than two hours.

The place he was currently at was the unmarked graveyard of Pingxi City.

This was the most terrifying location in Pingxi City. Even if one came here in the daytime when the sun was high up in the sky, the atmosphere of this place was still extremely ghastly and gloomy.

Since this place was mostly deserted and even the woodcutters and herdsmen would take a detour to avoid this place, the hills and mountain valleys here were full of towering trees that brushed the sky. The shade from the lofty trees blocked the sunlight and the moonlight, making the area particularly dim. Weeds covered the entire place, and among the weeds lay the occasional piece of bone and skeleton.

From the public road to the west of Pingxi City, a barely walkable path connected the two, formed by people transporting unclaimed corpses to the site of this mass grave. The route to transport corpses didn’t pass through Wuyang Village because one would have to climb the mountain to do so. Not only that, there was no road on the mountain yet. Therefore, the people who transported the corpses would bypass the Wuyang Village and arrive at the graveyard via the small road branching off from the public road a few li away.

The small road had tracks made by wheelbarrows. All corpses sent here were wrapped in straw mats and then transported here in a wheelbarrow.

There were also rules to observe when sending the corpses to the mass grave. People only dared to come at noon, when Yang energy was at its peak. Past noontime, this mass grave was a forbidden area to a living person. By nightfall, this place was pretty much a ghostland.

Tonight, the moonlight was sparse as usual, and the mass grave was dimly lit. After one o’clock at night, a thin layer of fog started to form. As the fog formed, specks of lush green phosphorescent light started to float around the mass grave. The fog rolled alongside the flow of air between the mountain valleys while the phosphorescent light appeared to bounce around in the midst of the fog...

Yan Liqiang listened to the eerie howls that the chilly northern wind made as it blew through the treetops of the distant mountain ridges, and caught the faint scent of corpses hanging over the mountain valley air. Taking in this scene before his eyes, Yan Liqiang couldn’t help but shudder. In the darkness, he squeezed the Thunderfire Dragon Cannon in his hands and touched the two rows of flying needles he had prepared beforehand. The needles were dipped in poison and hung from his waist. Feeling the cold and solid texture of the Thunderfire Dragon Cannon as well as the flying needles, Yan Liqiang’s racing heart finally calmed down.

Although this wasn’t the first time he had snuck in here at night, Yan Liqiang still couldn’t help but feel a little frightened every time he saw the mass grave shrouded in darkness.

The only ways to make someone overcome their fear was to either face a greater fear or to invoke their hatred.

And the latter reason was why Yan Liqiang could still stay here with his teeth clenched. Since the day he settled in Wuyang Village, he had been waiting for this very night.

At this moment, Yan Liqiang silently kept himself hidden. He dressed himself in a black suit with his face once again covered by King Cobra’s mask, which he’d added a veil to.

The ridiculously strict inspections at the gate of Pingxi City resulted in its citizen’s complaints filling the streets. Conflicts had also frequently broken out over the past few days due to many cases of damaged goods during the inspection process. In addition to the deterioration of public security in the city and the increase in Wanderers from the Gan Province coming to Pingxi City, the Prefectural Governor’s Office had no choice but to repeal the inspections on goods leaving the city. This was also the reason why Yan Liqiang had managed to sneak the Thunderfire Dragon Cannon out by hiding it on a bullock cart leaving the city.

Yan Liqiang would have given his best effort in tonight’s encounter, even without the Thunderfire Dragon Cannon. However, having the Thunderfire Dragon Cannon in his hands made Yan Liqiang feel more courageous and also strengthened the killing intent he felt for his enemy.

...

Yan Liqiang waited patiently. It was nearly a quarter to midnight, and the people he was waiting for still hadn’t appeared. However, he heard a soft rustling noise coming from the bushes beside him. Unbeknownst to him, a big rat about a foot long in size had come out from the bushes and was approaching him.

The rats at the mass grave were completely different from ordinary rats. After all, most of the rats here had grown up feeding on human flesh. The eyes of that giant rat glowed green, like ghost lights in the darkness. There were two rows of sharp teeth filling its long snout, and a strange, reddish-brown color tinged its entire head.

The rat had also realized that Yan Liqiang was watching it. However, it was extremely brave. Since Yan Liqiang didn’t move, it continued to crawl towards him.

There was some movement over at the forest in the distance. Yan Liqiang’s heart jumped and immediately sent a flying needle out from between his fingers. It silently sunk itself into the body of that rat which was already within a radius of three meters from him. The moment the flying needle pierced into its body, the rat suddenly froze, and then all signs of its life vanished in the blink of an eye.

The moment that rat’s body went stiff, someone trod across the top of the big trees of the mass grave, their movements as swift as a nightingale. When the Yin energy at the mass grave had reached its peak, he jumped out from the sky and landed in the mountain valley below.

The person who had come to this mass grave at night had a head full of white hair. He dressed himself in black, and the corners of his eyes were dark. The sinister and evil aura he exuded revealed that he was none other than the person who had murdered both Yan Liqiang and Yan Dechang – Mo Leng.

Mo Leng worked as a private tutor to the Ye Clan of the Gan Province. At the same time, he was also Ye Xiao’s master and the right-hand man of Pingxi’s Prefectural Governor, Ye Tiancheng.

Seeing that Mo Leng had finally arrived, Yan Liqiang immediately held his breath and remained motionless. He didn’t even stare at Mo Leng’s face, in fear that the man would sense him. He only narrowed his eyes and concealed himself among the weeds as he stared below Mo Leng’s neck, focusing on his torso.

Mo Leng was a First Grade Martial Master; a vicious and merciless expert. To the current Yan Liqiang, the title of Martial Master was still a realm beyond his reach. Therefore, he had to be cautious and prudent in everything he did.

Mo Leng’s gleaming eyes scanned the mass grave. After ensuring that nothing was out of place, only then did he walk towards the nearby mountain cave and enter it.

After waiting for a full ten minutes, Yan Liqiang finally stood up from his hiding spot in the bushes and walked to the cave entrance at the mountain valley below. Without even a second’s hesitation, he followed him inside.

It was already very cold outside with all the ghostlights floating about. Yet it was even colder inside this mountain cave, where ghostlights filled the entire space, illuminating the cave with a miserable-looking shade of green. The bones of the dead were scattered almost everywhere on the floor of the cave. A careless step might result in him trodding some bones underfoot. A coward would probably piss themselves if they saw a place like this...

The spheres of ghostlights had become the natural lighting of this cave. Yan Liqiang’s Nine Palace Wind Shadow Steps technique silenced his movements as he immediately made his way into the depths of the cave. After advancing a hundred meters deep into the cave, Yan Liqiang suddenly slowed his pace.

There was a natural pit in the depths of the cave, filled entirely with skeletons of the dead. This was actually the original place where Pingxi City had buried the unclaimed corpses. Large clusters of ghostlights surrounded the pit. Mo Leng sat cross-legged on the edge of the pit with his eyes closed. Making a strange gesture, he faced both of his palms towards the pit full of skeletons. A faint green aura then floated out from the pit as they gathered towards Mo Leng, who then sucked it inside through his mouth...

If it weren’t for the fact that he had witnessed too many things while in his soul state in his previous life, Yan Liqiang wouldn’t have realized what Mo Leng was doing. The reason Mo Leng came here every year during the eleventh lunar month was to absorb the Yin energy from the dead amassed in this grave, all in order to cultivate an evil technique...

This was the best opportunity to kill Mo Leng!

The moment he saw that Mo Leng was fully immersed in his cultivation, Yan Liqiang instantly flung out a large bundle of poisoned flying needles without a moment’s hesitation. They flew towards Mo Leng like a torrent of rain...

There were at least twenty needles in that flying bunch of needles. Yan Liqiang continuously flung his arms with the fastest speed possible, sending out all the flying needles in just less than half a second.

The flying needles flew toward Mo Leng from all directions, toward at his head, neck, back, chest, abdomen, arms and legs... A few of them even flew toward him from a cunning angle, aiming at his rear and the areas below his knees.

The flying needles had been soaked in poison. Yan Liqiang would win as long as one of them hit their target.

However, Yan Liqiang had really underestimated the competence of a Martial Master expert. Rather, he didn’t even think of how powerful a Martial Master was. Mo Leng was not just any ordinary Martial Master expert; he was an expert who was about to progress into becoming a Martial Grandmaster. He was simply far too powerful compared to Yan Liqiang.

Mo Leng’s eyes, which had been shut all this time, suddenly snapped open when the flying needles were just less than two meters away from him during the quick ambush. Light flashed across his eyes as he leaned his entire body to the side in a strange way as though he was drunk before the gleams of his sword flashed around him.

DING! DING! DING! A series of subtle tinkling noises rang out at the same time.

Half of Yan Liqiang’s flying needles instantly fell to the ground without hitting their targets while the other half were shattered by Mo Leng’s gleaming sword.

If Mo Leng was only a Martial Warrior or a Supreme Martial Warrior, it would be difficult for him to dodge Yan Liqiang’s flying needles. Unfortunately, this Mo Leng was simply too powerful.

“WHO!?”

With a frosty shout, Mo Leng’s figure with a head full of white hair charged directly towards Yan Liqiang like lightning.

Yan Liqiang waved his hand and sent out two more flying needles towards Mo Leng. At the same time, he rushed towards the exit of the cave, pretending to flee.

The two flying needles in the air were also shattered by the longsword in Mo Leng’s hands. Mo Leng caught a quick glimpse of Yan Liqiang’s face which was veiled by the black mask before he immediately chased after Yan Liqiang.

Compared to that place with the big pit in the mountain, this cave passage, which was less than two meters high, was long and narrow. At most, only two people could pass through it at a time.

With Mo Leng in hot pursuit behind him, Yan Liqiang unleashed his Nine Palace Wind Shadow Steps. While fleeing, he continued to release flying needles behind him. In just a brief moment, both of them had reached the middle of the mountain passage.

When Yan Liqiang sensed that Mo Leng was only about ten meters away from catching up to him while they ran, Yan Liqiang took out the Thunderfire Dragon Cannon he had been hiding. While still running at a high speed, he spun around in midair and aimed the Thunderfire Dragon Cannon at Mo Leng who was rushing towards him.

Yan Liqiang saw Mo Leng’s countenance instantly contort.

This was the moment where the life and death of both parties would be decided.

Yan Liqiang pressed down on the trigger of the Thunderfire Dragon Cannon which was aimed at Mo Leng. With a yell, Mo Leng thrusted the longsword in his hands towards Yan Liqiang.

A blazing white fire dragon swept toward the direction that Mo Leng was coming from. It took up every inch of available space in the narrow passage, making it impossible to evade. For a moment, the scorching high temperature actually made Yan Liqiang feel as though he were standing in front of a steelmaking furnace.

Mo Leng’s longsword sliced through the flames as he flew towards Yan Liqiang.

The flames engulfed the longsword, momentarily slowing down the speed of the sword in the tunnel. It was during this brief moment that Yan Liqiang sensed that something sharp was already in front of him. Without even thinking, he used the metal pipe of the Thunderfire Dragon Cannon in his hands as a hidden weapon and smashed it against the gleaming blade while he turned around and leaped to the side without a second thought...

A blood-curdling scream rang out in his ears, and he soon felt a cold sensation on his arm soon afterward. His whole body was sent flying backwards by the huge impact before he heavily landed on the ground.

The final stage of their life and death duel ended in just less than a second.

Yan Liqiang, who had fallen to the ground, turned his head to the side and saw the longsword that Mo Leng had shoved toward him stuck in the ground right beside where he was, still vibrating. The tip of the longsword had pierced through the few layers of clothes he was wearing, right next to the skin on his arm. It left a wound that was neither severe nor light on his arm, and it had knocked him down to the ground at the same time.

“AHHHHHHH!!!!” A blood-curdling scream echoed throughout the tunnel. The man engulfed in the white flames screamed loudly while he flailed his arms and legs around. Like a headless fly, he charged towards where Yan Liqiang was while he shouted crazily, “I’LL KILL YOU, I’LL KILL YOU!!”

Mo Leng’s entire body was wrapped in the strange flames, and his face was no longer visible.

Yan Liqiang laid on the floor. Without even getting up, he sent two flying needles out again which disappeared into the figure engulfed by the flames.

“I’LL KILL...” The screams in the cave stopped abruptly as the human figure less than ten meters away from Yan Liqiang suddenly fell to his knees on the ground before he collapsed backwards and remained there motionlessly. Like a piece of ignited firewood, it burned silently in the cave.

Yan Liqiang gasped for air on the ground for a while before he reached out to pull out the longsword which had gone through a few of his clothes layers. He then got up.

When Yan Liqiang thought back about the scene from just now, he was shaken to his core. This was what it felt like to battle with your life.

In the battle earlier, he didn’t expect Mo Leng’s reflexes to be this quick as he was agile enough to dodge the flying needles while he was in the middle of his cultivation. He didn’t anticipate Mo Leng’s final attack in tossing his longsword before he died either. If it wasn’t for the Thunderfire Dragon Cannon slowing down his longsword and Yan Liqiang’s agility and reaction speed from training the hidden weapon technique cultivation, Mo Leng’s final blow would have most definitely pierced through his chest.

Without a doubt, Mo Leng was the one that was in for the greatest surprise. He never expected Yan Liqiang to be carrying a terrifying weapon like the Thunderfire Dragon Cannon on him. It was precisely because Yan Liqiang had the Thunderfire Dragon Cannon that he turned around to run after his attacks had missed earlier. He didn’t run to escape. Instead, he ran lead Mo Leng to the middle of the cave so he could maximize the Thunderfire Dragon Cannon’s power in such a confined space.

Yan Liqiang survived and Mo Leng died – this was the final outcome. A Martial Master expert was killed by Yan Liqiang just like that in this strange cave.

Yan Liqiang held Mo Leng’s sword in his hands and went to his corpse which was still burning. He lifted the sword and violently slashed Mo Leng’s corpse a dozens times as though he was venting. After making sure Mo Leng couldn’t be more dead, he turned around to pick up the metal cylinder that was left of the Thunderfire Dragon Cannon and turned around to quickly leave the cave...

The atmosphere outside the cave was still as dark and gloomy as ever. The incident which had transpired in the cave lasted for only less than half a minute. The winding way into the mountain cave made it impossible to see anything that was going on inside.

Two minutes later, Yan Liqiang arrived at a valley overrun with weeds and skeletons everywhere outside the mass grave. He tossed the longsword and the metal cylinder that was the remnant of the Thunderfire Dragon Cannon down there. Shortly after that, Yan Liqiang’s figure blended into the darkness in just the blink of an eye.

By the time Yan Liqiang silently returned to his small courtyard in Wuyang Village, the ‘firewood’ inside the cave gradually grew dimmer and dimmer until nothing was left except for a pile of ashes...

The injury on his arm wasn’t that serious at all. He was fine after he applied some medicine on it and wrapped it with gauze. Yan Liqiang got out of bed, energized and lively as usual the next day. He completed his morning regime and cultivated Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing as usual.

Yan Liqiang survived to live another day. He was only glad that Mo Leng didn’t have a habit of dipping his precious sword in poison. Otherwise, he would have perished along with Mo Leng during the battle last night.

An outstanding and confident swordsman would scorn at dipping their own precious sword in poison. Even if the swordsman was an assassin, they would rarely do this. This had nothing to do with a person’s moral stance; it was purely because of the martial practitioner’s confidence towards his own cultivation and weapons. Those who used long and heavy weapons in particular would be less inclined dip their weapons in poison. This was because those who could shed another’s blood with their weapon had a tendency to kill with their weapon. The distance between shedding blood and killing was only paper thin. If a practitioner didn’t believe the weapons they held in their hands could kill and had to rely on poison, then smearing poison on their weapons would be akin to indirectly smearing poison in their heart. This would most definitely have a great impact on the practitioner’s cultivation. Therefore, it was very rare for someone to actually dip their weapon in poison.

However, hidden weapons were exceptions. Since they were generally smaller in size, their destructive power was inferior to that of weapons. Hence, it was very common for hidden weapons to be dipped in poison. At least Yan Liqiang wasn’t mentally bothered about dipping his flying needles in poison. That was because he deeply believed that no weapons could speak for themselves. They served justice when used for good and caused corruption when used for evil. Putting aside flying needles dipped in poison and taking atomic bombs as examples – they would be dangerous if they fell into the hands of certain nations and individuals. But if they were in the hands of the People’s Republic of China, it would be the best guarantor of world peace. He wasn’t being sarcastic about it because this was what Yan Liqiang strongly believed in his previous life.

To Yan Liqiang, forcefully taking down Mo Leng had not only put an end to one of his biggest concerns; it also greatly improved his mental state. After a night’s rest and completing his morning regime the next day, Yan Liqiang suddenly felt as though there were an endless vast sky and a boundless ocean before him. It was as though a heavy burden had been lifted off him. At this point in time, he had already eliminated half of the imminent life-and-death crisis that would befall him.

Without Wang Haofei, Ye Xiao might have not even heard of his name from beginning to end, and without Mo Leng, Ye Xiao was nothing but a piece of trash in his eyes.

For the Prefectural Governor, Ye Tiancheng, regardless of his moral standing and whether or not he was a corrupted official or a vile individual, Yan Liqiang was certain about one thing – Ye Tiancheng was intelligent and rather cunning. Regardless of the circumstances, Ye Tiancheng wouldn’t openly abuse his authority and go off the scale for his fake son, Ye Xiao.

With this, as long as he didn’t jump out on his own accord to create any opportunities for Ye Tiancheng, Ye Tiancheng would never be bothered by a youth who was still studying at the martial arts academy. If he was nothing but a stranger in Ye Xiao’s eyes right now, then he was pretty much an invisible stranger in Ye Tiancheng’s eyes.

The feeling of knowing your enemy while your enemy was oblivious to you was indeed extremely pleasant.

Perhaps until now, these two people from the Ye Clan still didn’t know who Yan Liqiang was. However, Yan Liqiang was not about to let them off the hook.

As the private tutor to the Ye Clan, Mo Leng had always been strangely prudent in his whereabouts. Not only that, the techniques he cultivated were rather shocking too. Neither Ye Tiancheng nor Ye Xiao were able to completely track Mo Leng’s whereabouts. In the past, it was common for Mo Leng to vanish from the city for three to five days. Therefore, within a short period of time of at least three to five days, Ye Xiao or Ye Tiancheng wouldn’t immediately realize that something had happened to Mo Leng. Therefore, the best opportunity for him to take care of Ye Xiao and Ye Tiancheng would be within the next five days.

Yan Liqiang had already come up with few different secret plans for the father and son of the Ye Clan since long ago. The current situation in Pingxi City was where he could draw the most power from.

...

In the following two days, Yan Liqiang once again returned to Pingxi City.

During the day, he reported to the martial arts academy as usual and trained with Shi Dafeng and Shen Teng together. Occasionally, he would spar with a couple others in the arena. Of course, Yan Liqiang never exposed his real strength regardless if it was during training or sparring. The strength he showed was just merely a little stronger than he was two months ago and it wasn’t suspicious at all.

By nightfall, after he parted with Shi Dafeng and Shen Teng, he started to wander around the city. Just like those other youths of the martial arts academy who wished to capture King Cobra for fame and merits, he hung his student tag on his waist and wandered everywhere in the city, hoping to discover any sort of clues.

Of course, Yan Liqiang’s purpose for wandering around in the city wasn’t to find King Cobra; it was to find Shatu people. More precisely, Yan Liqiang had been waiting for an opportunity to catch those Shatu people who sent those girls they had abducted to the boutique again.

Ye Xiao was not only a lustful man. He was also cultivating a type of nefarious technique which relied on women to establish his foundation through duo cultivation. Thus, his demand for young girls over these few months had increased significantly. If nothing had changed and everything still went according to history, then on the night of the 18th day of the eleventh lunar month, which was a few days later, the Shatu people would deliver the two girls they had abducted to the boutique. Naturally, that would be the best time for him to make a move. Unfortunately, everything in Pingxi City had changed due to his actions. Under the butterfly effect, the history he knew was no longer the actual history. Therefore, Yan Liqiang wasn’t certain if everything that had happened in the past on the night of the 18th day of the eleventh lunar month would still happen again.

Not only that, on the 18th day of the eleventh lunar month, his father would come to Pingxi City. Yan Liqiang didn’t want to wait until that day to settle the matter and he didn’t want his father to step foot into Pingxi City on that day again. Hence, he would have to deliver the most fatal blow to the father and son pair from the Ye Clan before the 18th day of the eleventh lunar month.

Judging the current public security situation within the city, the Shatu people might just deliver those girls before the 18th day of the eleventh lunar month to the boutique. Or they might not deliver them, or everything might just be cancelled, delayed, or pushed forward. In any case, everything was subject to various uncertainties. Hence, he could only gamble and try his luck at a time like this and then act accordingly to the circumstances. If this plan didn’t work, he’d switch to another plan. The results of both plans were about the same, only the process differed from each other – one of them didn’t need King Cobra’s appearance while the other needed King Cobra’s appearance.

However, the route which the Shatu people sent those girls to the boutique with their carriage was fixed. The road might be long-winded, but the route was definitely fixed. Therefore, for the next consecutive two nights, Yan Liqiang wandered along that route. Unfortunately, he didn’t make any discovery until curfew.

The 15th day of the eleventh lunar month arrived in just the blink of an eye. The weather today in Pingxi City suddenly changed. The skies were gloomy and the cold wind was bone-chilling. Signs of snowfall were already showing.

By the time Yan Liqiang came out from the martial arts academy, it was already evening. The sun could no longer be seen in the west. It was hidden behind the thick layers of clouds with only its slightly hazy light still visible.

Yan Liqiang raised his head to gaze at the sky. He exhaled deeply as a thought ran through his mind. Today was the last day of the first plan that Yan Liqiang had set for himself. If he still had no luck by tonight’s curfew, then King Cobra would need to make his appearance after the curfew tonight.

When Yan Liqiang was about to return to the small house he rented at the Nine Dragons Bridge, a voice suddenly rang out from behind him.

“Liqiang, Liqiang...”

Yan Liqiang turned his head around and saw Shi Dafeng and Shen Teng come out together. When he saw them coming towards him, Yan Liqiang’s face broke into a smile.

Shi Dafeng came out from the martial arts academy entrance empty-handed, but Shen Teng was still carrying a bow and a few whistling arrows on his back. Over the past few days, the martial arts academy no longer requested students to patrol the streets. However, students who knew archery still had to carry on the act. They had to walk around outside with bow and arrows on their backs after leaving the martial arts academy every day so that the Prefectural Governor would be aware that the martial arts academy was still putting in effort in hunting down King Cobra.

“Where were you this afternoon? How come Shen Teng and I couldn’t find you anywhere? I was kind of itching to spar with you in the arena this afternoon!” Shi Dafeng spoke while he walked over to Yan Liqiang.

“I was practicing my fundamentals at the spear technique training field this afternoon...” Yan Liqiang replied with a smile.

“Oh, no wonder. I was just wondering where you suddenly disappeared to today since you’ve been diligent in coming to the martial arts academy for the past few days...”

“Haha, I kind of got a warning from Teacher Shi so I didn’t dare go missing for these few days...”

“Did you decide to make spear technique as your main weapon in the future, Liqiang?” Shen Teng asked curiously from the side.

“Yes. I cultivated the spear technique back at home in the past. So I’m prepared to continue down this path in the future since I don’t want to give up on it halfway...”

“A month to master the staff, a year to master the saber, but a lifetime to master the spear... The spear really is a tough road to follow...” Shen Teng sighed.

“It doesn’t matter. Everything has its own beauty. Oh right, where are the both of you going together?”

“To get some food, of course!” Shi Dafeng answered as though his answer was the most natural. “I just found a place in the city which serves the most authentic lamb and fish soup. It’s on me tonight, let’s go together!”

Among the three of them, Shi Dafeng loved food the most. He loved eating so much that it had become an enjoyment in his life. Not long after coming to Pingxi City, the places which attracted him the most apart from the martial arts academy were probably restaurants and inns. He could always find places that served great food.

“Umm, I still have some matters to attend to tonight...”

“What’s so important that you have to skip your meal? The place is not far. It’s just over at the Fine Willow Alley. We’ll get there in just short while...”

Yan Liqiang was initially going to decline the offer, but when he heard Shi Dafeng mention that the place was in Fine Willow Alley, he was slightly taken aback. Fine Willow Alley was the place he had been wandering around over the past two nights. That alley contained the road that those Shatu people had to take when they ‘delivered the goods’ to the boutique...

“Alright then...” Yan Liqiang nodded.

“That’s more like it! You can hardly find anything more important than eating and drinking in your life. A human can live on without training for seven months, but a human will definitely die without eating or drinking for seven days!” Shi Dafeng laughed while he rambled on with his fallacious reasoning before the three of them set out to Fine Willow Alley together.

This little store known as Du Clan’s Kuai [1] was slightly secluded as it was located right next to Fine Willow Alley. Despite that, their business was good. The sky was already dark with a piercing-cold wind blowing in the air, yet it was absolutely warm and lively inside the store. There were pots of special mutton soup cooking on top of the burnt coals placed on top of each table. Surrounding the pots on the tables were several dishes of sliced fish fillets that had their pin bones removed beforehand. These fillets were fresh and tender too. After they were cooked inside the boiling mutton soup, they were then taken out and dipped into the sauce made from ten different types of condiments. One bite of the fillet could make one feel twice as light. The fillets were extremely tasty.

It was certainly enjoyable to eat these fillets while drinking the store’s special plum wine in this kind of weather.

A family of seven ran this store. Everyone in the family was put to work with each of them being quite busy on every floor. With the severe situation inside Pingxi City and the storm blowing over the mountains, it was as if they had nothing to do with this family running the store in the alley.

When Yan Liqiang and the others arrived, there weren’t many people inside the store yet. Because of that, he straightaway requested for the table on the second floor next to the window. After the food he had ordered was served, Yan Liqiang continued to eat while focused his gaze at the alley below in a collected manner.

If the Shatu people were going to ‘deliver the goods’ tonight, then they absolutely had to pass through the alley below.

With the combination of the charcoal’s temperature, the aroma of the soup, meat, and condiments as well as the smell of plum wine, the store was filled with an exclusive atmosphere that could make anyone feel relaxed even during this kind of chilly night.

...

“Once I have money in the future, I will make a tasty corner in my house and build a tall loft that will be occupied by the chefs whom I will invite from all over the world. I will just go up to a specific floor in the loft for whatever I crave for each day. Once my belly is full, I will leave without even paying anything....” The three of them had been eating their meal for over an hour. As they ate, they talked. Shi Dafeng was already flushed in a red glow after his belly was full. Yan Liqiang continued to talk about his ideals in life while eating his food.

“Haha, on the contrary, I don’t need that many chefs. When I am able to marry someone and establish myself in the future to become a thriving master one day, I just need one chef actually....” Shen Teng’s face flushed red after he drank a bit of plum wine, as if he had put on a blusher. This caused the lady who served them fillets to steal a few glances at him. After all, he was still young at heart. Even though Shen Teng usually looked a bit experienced and prudent, sometimes even reserved and solemn, Yan Liqiang realized that Shen Teng was actually a fun person to be with after he was well-acquainted with him. He had a great temperament too, but because of his strict upbringing, he hardly had any chances to be more open.

“How is one chef enough?” Shi Dafeng shook his head.

“Gently holding a satin dress with light footsteps, she cleansed her hands to make a good soup, blushing shyly as she waited for her soup to be tasted; surrounding a hearth while talking comfortably under the night sky, enjoying wine and songs and listen to the wind knocking on windows....” Shen Teng whose eyes seemed somewhat misty began to unexpectedly sway his head while he recited a poem.

“Oh my goodness. It’s sour, too sour. My teeth are going to rot from this sour sensation. And you can still blush shyly while awaiting to taste the soup. Old Shen, are you going through adolescence.....” Shi Dafeng said while making funny faces at Shen Teng.

“YOU’RE the one going through an adolescence!” Shen Teng stared at Shi Dafeng, somewhat agitated. He continued, “What do you know? It’s already enough even if you are able to get a beauty in your life!”

“Liqiang, what will you do when you become a thriving master in the future? Are you the same as me or the same as Shen Teng....” At Shi Dafeng’s inquiry, both of them quickly turned their attention toward Yan Liqiang’s face.

“I don’t need chefs from around the world and I don’t need some beauties to personally cook for me either!” Yan Liqiang shook his head as he solemnly looked at Shi Dafeng and Shen Teng. He then continued, “Don’t you two think that these dishes are quite delicious regardless of who cooked it and how it was made?”

“You are not joking, right?” Shi Dafeng and Shen Teng looked at Yan Liqiang in surprise.

“I am saying the truth. Even if you randomly buy a few steamed buns at the foot of the mountain below Wuyang Village, I will still think that they are delicious!”

“I really admire you. I didn’t think Liqiang would be the type to be not unpicky toward anything he eats....” Shi Dafeng said as he shook his head.

Yan Liqiang could only laugh in response. He didn’t explain further about his behavior toward food. Moreover, he was a man who had lived two lives. Whatever he ate in his past life–anything that could be served on the table – was injected with Clenbuterol, antibiotics, transgene, gutter oil, flouride along with a great variety of poisonous and non-poisonous substances. These were also added to the necessities and various food items, including foods that were quite confusing to the civilians as well. Even the dining table of a five-star restaurant had become the extension to the modern chemical industry. Truth be told, for someone of that era to come into this world, Yan Liqiang felt that everything he ate here was delicious. The food here was natural, pure, and had splendid flavor that he had never experienced before. Among other things, even if it was a steamed bun, Yan Liqiang could still taste the true fragrance of the wheat in his mouth.

...

Just when the three of them were happily eating their food, Yan Liqiang suddenly felt something and tilted his head unconsciously to look out the window. A horse carriage happened to come in from the other side of Fine Willow Alley and it entered the alley.

The horse carriage seemed a bit worn out. The carriage was long, which meant that this was a wagon used to deliver goods. A coachman wearing a dog skin hat and a thick quilted jacket was driving the horse carriage through the small alley without hurry.

The coachman’s dog skin hat was pressed down low. The collar on the coachman’s quilted jacket was pulled upward, making it seem like he was being wrapped tightly around his clothes. It was almost as if his eyes and less than half of his skin were the only body parts that were exposed.

The horse carriage was still the same, even the coachman was the same as well. Even with a wooden plank covering the horse carriage, Yan Liqiang could still sense the ‘goods’ inside the roll of fleece....

That horse carriage passed right by the storefront of Du Family’s Raw Fish.

“Liqiang, what did you see?” Shi Dafeng asked as he sat beside him.

Yan Liqiang looked at the bow and whistling arrows used for the sake of reporting to the police that Shen Teng had placed on the side of the table. After a quick consideration, a creased frown appeared on his forehead. He then muttered to himself softly, “Strange.....”

“What’s strange?”

Yan Liqiang continued to remain silent. He was considering something only for a few moments before he quickly stood up and shot a look at Shi Dafeng and Shen Teng.

The three of them had been spending more time together during this period of time, and thus they gained some understanding toward each other. When they saw Yan Liqiang stand up and give them a look as if he was saying that it was inconvenient to speak further in this place, Shi Dafeng and Shen Teng looked at each other and stood up as well. Shi Dafeng tossed a small piece of silver to the table while Shen Teng carried his bow and whistling arrows. They then left the store together with Yan Liqiang. When they arrived at the alley outside, they walked a few steps around. After checking for people on either side, Shen Teng finally asked in a low voice, “What’s wrong? Did you notice anything just now, Liqiang?”

“Did you two see a horse carriage passing through this alley just now....” Yan Liqiang whispered.

“I think there was one....” Shi Dafeng creased a frown on his forehead. The three of them were sitting next to the window together. Even though he didn’t pay too much attention to what was below, he still saw the carriage that had passed by just now.

“I noticed that there was something wrong with that coachman driving his carriage.”

“What’s wrong?” Shi Dafeng and Shen Teng asked, their spirits lifted.

“I have extremely good memory as I will never ever forget those whom I’ve met just once. Just now, I inadvertently saw the coachman’s face and eyes when I looked down. I have seen that coachman before when I entered through the city gates of Pingxi City that day. He was on a rhinodrake steed when he entered the city. Moreover, he’s a Shatu Martial Warrior – the pompous kind – which is why he left a very deep impression on me. Why did he suddenly turn into a coachman driving a horse carriage just now? And he was wearing our Chinese attire too, so I felt like that was strange...”

Shi Dafeng and Shen Teng exchanged glances. They both had surprised looks on their faces because what Yan Liqiang said was indeed quite unexpected.

“Well, Liqiang, it’s dark outside. Perhaps you are mistaken by what you saw?” Shen Teng hesitated for a while.

“I’m not mistaken. When that Shatu person rushed the horse carriage and passed through that door just now, I clearly saw him the moment the lantern on the door shined on his face. This person was wearing a dog skin hat and covered half of his face, but his eyes were that of the Shatu people. His eyes were brown....” Yan Liqiang did not mince his words as he continued, “It’s already late at night. For a Shatu person to wear a disguise and act sneakily while rushing a horse carriage, I think there’s something wrong with that Shatu person....”

“King Cobra isn’t hiding inside the horse carriage, is he?” Shi Dafeng said nonchalantly.

Yan Liqiang seemed to ponder over something when he said, “Say, if King Cobra really was hiding in the city, why couldn’t anyone able to find him during this period of time.... If.... If the Shatu people colluded with him, then he must have escaped after he committed murder and arson at the Shatu people’s gathering area. After that, he quietly went back again. Who would have expected that?”

Shi Dafeng and Shen Teng were stupefied. Even though Yan Liqiang’s deduction was a bit whimsical, it was certainly a possibility. The number of Shatu people in the city were abundant. If the Shatu people really did collude with King Cobra, then perhaps what Liqiang said was true.

“Let’s go. We will follow and watch them quietly. Let’s see what the hell that Shatu guy is up to....” Shen Teng said in a low voice.

Yan Liqiang and Shi Dafeng nodded in agreement.

At that moment, excluding Yan Liqiang, the other two were quite thrilled and excited as they quietly followed the horse carriage.

Like ‘last time’, the route that the carriage took did not change at all. After a few little tricks, the horse carriage continued its way toward the direction of the boutique.

Yan Liqiang, Shi Dafeng, and Shen Teng were the best among the others of their age. Putting aside Yan Liqiang and Shen Teng, even Shi Dafeng who seemed boorish was sharp at times. These three could not be compared with ordinary people. They continued to follow that horse carriage carefully until it reached the backyard of a boutique in the small alley.

If one were to say that Shi Dafeng and Shen Teng were unsure whether the horse carriage had a problem before or not, at this particular moment, both of them were certain that something was wrong with the carriage.

Like last time, when the horse carriage stopped, the three of them leveraged their forces and climbed up to the rooftop in a nearby courtyard. They stayed behind the ridge of the rooftop and held their breaths, quietly surmising the situation surrounding that horse carriage.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! The Shatu coachman used the door latch to make two long knocks and two short knocks....

After a while, a lantern lit up behind the boutique’s rear courtyard. A person that looked like the storekeeper held a lantern in his hand, and he was followed by two of his employees that walked out from the door. The four of them began to look at each other with scrutiny....

“You see these people? They are being secretive and sneaky. These thrashes are definitely not good people and they are up to no good....” Shi Dafeng muttered beside the other two in a low voice.

“Shhh....” Shen Teng shushed him. His eyes lit up as he stared closely at the horse carriage.

Yan Liqiang licked his lips while he focused on the ‘trade’ at the alley, silently aware of his own movements at the same time. Ten minutes ago, when the three of them silently followed the carriage in the alley, Yan Liqiang was yet again able to sense someone watching their every move in the dark. After walking for another few minutes, Yan Liqiang realized that the three of them including Shi Dafeng and Shen Teng had been marked by two Wanderers who managed to arrive in the city....

The Wanderers didn’t notice that there was anything wrong with the carriage, but they instead had observed the trio’s tracks. Moreover, they were suspicious about it too, which was why these two Wanderers had followed them quietly as well.

As they found out more by following them, it was evident that the Wanderers also discovered the horse carriage.

This had become more interesting. The Wanderers had followed them without the need to call them along. This great show tonight would be more magnificent than last time soon enough. Yan Liqiang was smiling inside his heart....

“Everyone, look. There’s something wrong with those leathers being carried from the carriage. The weight isn’t right and those two employees are being too cautious. There’s something wrong with those leathers....” Yan Liqiang warned Shi Dafeng and Shen Teng beside him in a low voice. Both nodded too, after they looked at the rolls of goods.

Everything was not that much different than what he experienced last time. In just a short moment, the two rolls of leather goods that the Shatu man was transporting with the horse carriage were taken by the two servants into a room at the back of the courtyard. The rear courtyard door was shut once again and the Shatu man who had just completed his transaction climbed back onto his horse carriage, preparing to leave.

“What should we do?” Since this was the first time Shi Dafeng and Shen Teng had run into this kind of situation, both of their gazes fell on Yan Liqiang. However, Yan Liqiang’s calmness at this moment mysteriously and immediately calmed both of their nervous hearts down.

“Shi Dafeng and I will take down those Shatu men. Shen Teng, you watch over things on the roof. If something goes wrong, shoot the whistling arrow immediately. Guards have been patrolling everywhere in the city lately. As soon as you release the whistling arrow, someone will definitely make it here.” Yan Liqiang explained calmly.

Although Yan Liqiang hadn’t gone inside the small house, he was secretly estimating the time when those two servants inside the boutique would open up the tunnelway and deliver the two girls to Ye Xiao through there.

If he had to make a move, he couldn’t do it too early or too late. He knew the moment he made his move, those two Wanderers watching behind him would definitely rush inside the small house...

“Alright. Be careful, both of you...” Shen Teng said solemnly and grasped the bow in his hands tightly.

Yan Liqiang nodded. He signaled to Shi Dafeng with his eyes, then both of them silently climbed down from the roof and came down to the corner in the alley. One of them stood on the right and the other stood on the left.

Shi Dafeng had already taken out a knife at some point. His eyes shone as he licked his lips. He half-crouched like a panther and hid behind the wall while he accumulated his power, preparing himself for the action.

Don’t kill him. I will take the lead – Yan Liqiang gestured to Shi Dafeng.

Shi Dafeng nodded.

The sound of the horse carriage gradually drew closer. The Shatu man was driving the carriage out of the small alley and was almost at the end of it.

The horse came out first from the alley with the carriage behind it. So naturally, the horse had already spotted both Yan Liqiang and Shi Dafeng. Unfortunately, since horses didn’t speak, it didn’t warn anyone and just continued going forward.

The moment the horse completely came out from the alley, the carriage came into view. The Shatu man was still sitting in front of the carriage and driving it. He was completely relaxed and didn’t expect Yan Liqiang and Shi Dafeng to be waiting for him.

Yan Liqiang jumped out like a ferocious tiger in the darkness. Without even waiting for the Shatu man to react, Yan Liqiang landed a hard blow on his head, knocking him off from the cart and onto the ground.

With Yan Liqiang’s current fist strength, he could instantly blow the Shatu man’s brains out with his fist if he had intended to take his life. However, Yan Liqiang pulled back half of his punch. Even with that, he still managed to hit the man so hard that he saw stars, instantly making the world around him spin as he grew dizzy and collapsed to the ground, unable to react in time.

Shi Dafeng pounced on him like a cheetah next. Before the Shatu man could even react, the dagger in his hand had already mercilessly impaled his right shoulder...

The Shatu man already felt faint from Yan Liqiang’s punch. However, Shi Dafeng’s attack jolted him as though he was electrocuted. The intense pain caused that Shatu man’s eyes to widen as he nearly jolted upright from the ground.

Yan Liqiang immediately covered the Shatu man’s mouth. At the same time, he used his other hand to twist the Shatu man’s left hand around his back while he forcefully pinned him down.

The dagger in Shi Dafeng’s hand never stopped. He pulled it out from the Shatu man’s right shoulder, stabbed him again on his left shoulder, then again on his right thigh violently...

The Shatu man was akin to a prawn which had been tossed onto a red-hot iron plate. His body was trembling violently. Everytime Shi Dafeng stabbed him, it was as though his eyes were going to pop out from his sockets. However, he could neither yell nor move under Yan Liqiang’s brute force.

Shi Dafeng’s fourth stab landed on the Shatu man’s left leg. When his body was trembling with stiffness and his muscles were taut, Yan Liqiang grabbed his face and then heavily smashed the back of his head against the ground, finally knocking him out.

The entire process, from the moment Yan Liqiang made his move and until the end, lasted for only less than three seconds.

Yan Liqiang looked at the four bloody stab wounds that had been made on the Shatu man’s body in just a flash, then at Shi Dafeng who was holding the dagger. He couldn’t help but secretly break out in a cold sweat. He never expected the always cheerful Shi Dafeng to be this sinister and violent. He had nearly crippled the Shatu man’s hands and legs with these four stabs...

Shi Dafeng scratched his head, looking a little shy when he noticed the way Yan Liqiang was staring at him. “Well... I avoided the veins on this Shatu dog’s body and only destroyed his four tendons but I did not take its life... Do you think I’m unmanly for going too easy on him, Liqiang?”

“Err...” Yan Liqiang was choked by Shi Dafeng’s question. He didn’t even know what to say. “N-No, that was pretty good. It was really manly...”

“I can’t help it. Back home, my mother is always worried about me being too compassionate and that I will get the short end of the stick out there if I run into any bad guys...”

Yan Liqiang was totally speechless and had no idea on how to carry on the conversation with Shi Dafeng. He noticed the horse was a little agitated at the side, so he hurried over and held its reins.

Shen Teng jumped off from the courtyard wall with his bow and arrows.

“What should we do now? Should we take a look inside that courtyard...?”

This was probably also Shen Teng’s first time running into this kind of situation. He was a little nervous when he looked at the Shatu man who was lying on the ground, but he was mostly excited. Yan Liqiang carefully looked at Shen Teng and realized that he had already lost his usual cultured, refined, and gentle demeanor of a model student right now. His pupils were dilated, his face was flushed, and even his breathing had sped up from the way his nostrils were flaring. Shen Teng’s adrenaline was probably off the charts right now...

Yan Liqiang’s answer was actually unnecessary. The moment Shen Teng spoke, the sound of the wind came from the roof nearby. Two Wanderers had spread open the cloaks they were wearing. Like two huge birds, they treaded across the roof tiles and flew into the backyard of the boutique. In just the blink of an eye, the sound of a door being broken into could be heard in the rear courtyard.

“Wanderers...!” Shi Dafeng and Shen Teng were both shocked. Both of them had only realized there were Wanderers hidden around here when both of them made their moves.

“QUICK! Move this Shatu man onto the carriage and move it out to the streets!” While Yan Liqiang was instructing them he had already grabbed the unconscious Shatu man and tossed him onto the carriage. He then pulled the horse carriage and quickly rushed out of the small alley to the wide main street outside. He parked the horse carriage at the boutique entrance, removed the dog fur hat from the Shatu man’s head so his entire face was exposed, and tossed him in front of the boutique’s entrance.

The main street was deserted without anyone around, and it was extremely spacious. Wealthy clan manors lined the street.

“Hurry, release the whistling arrow!”

The instant Yan Liqiang urged him, realization instantly dawned upon on Shen Teng who was wondering why Yan Liqiang had led them to the main streets, exposing the Shatu man’s face. He hurriedly pulled out a whistling arrow, nocked it onto the bow, and released it towards the roofs in the distance.

There was a bamboo whistle attached to the whistling arrow. So when the arrow was released, air would flow through the bamboo whistle, hence emitting an extremely sharp whistling noise.

During such a cold night, everyone in the surroundings could hear the sharp whistling noise that rang out.

After releasing the first arrow, Shen Teng drew the second arrow out. Yan Liqiang took out a firestarter and instantly lit up the oil-soaked cloth on the arrowhead...

The second arrow instantly turned into a trail of fire and was shot into the air.

Compared to the whistling noise, this trail of fire could be seen from even ten li away. Not only that, it also accurately indicated their current location.

But that wasn’t the end of it. When Shen Teng released the second flaming arrow, another sharp whistling noise came from the backyard of the boutique. Something was suddenly shot up into the sky before it exploded into a burst of bright luminous flames a hundred meters above the small courtyard. Among the flames was the red image of a longsword which stayed in the sky for about twenty seconds before it gradually faded...

This was a signal from those Wanderers who had entered the small courtyard...

At the moment, Pingxi City was already like a pot of boiling oil. Although it appeared to be calm on the surface, it was already boiling beneath the surface and could be set ablaze at any moment. The three signals which had been released from the same place at the same time on a night like this was like splashing a scoop of water into that pot of boiling oil. All of Pingxi City instantly crackled...

The wealthy manors and huge courtyards in the surroundings were all immediately alarmed. Countless lanterns were instantly lit inside as the entrance doors opened one after another. A number of fully-armed guards from these wealthy manors and huge courtyards came out to gather information.

In just less than a minute, Yan Liqiang heard the tremors from the ground. A troop of two hundred fully-armed soldiers patrolling nearby, under the lead of a black-faced commandant who carried a bow on his back and a saber hanging at his waist, rushed to Yan Liqiang, Shi Dafeng, and Shen Teng with a murderous intent.

When Yan Liqiang saw the black-faced commandant, he wasn’t certain if this was destiny. The commandant was Commandant Su. He was the one who arrested the Shatu people when he had a conflict with them ‘last time’ at the city entrance.

Though Yan Liqiang recognized Commandant Su, he didn’t recognize Yan Liqiang.

Commandant Su, who had rushed here, threw a glance at Yan Liqiang, the other two, and the Shatu man on the ground with his face exposed before he instantly frowned. “Who are you all? Were you the ones who shot the whistling arrow just now...?” he asked loudly.

Facing a group of soldiers who were dripping with murderous intent like tigers which were watching their prey for the first time, Shi Dafeng and Shen Teng felt rather nervous and suffocated. Yan Liqiang was the only one who still maintained his composure.

“Reporting sir, we are students from the martial arts academy. We indeed just released that whistling arrow. There is something strange going on in the backyard of this boutique. We discovered some suspicious activity and suspected that King Cobra might be hiding inside. Some Wanderers already barged in just now...” Yan Liqiang cupped his fist and respectfully answered Commandant Su.

“Damnnn, is it my turn to get rich now?” As expected, black-faced Commandant Su’s eyes instantly lit up at the mention of King Cobra’s name as he licked his lips. He didn’t even have time to carefully inquire Yan Liqiang and them about how they discovered that something strange was going on inside this boutique. He took the longbow he was carrying on his back and then turned to yell at the soldiers around him. “Brothers! After suffering for the past few days, the time for us to get rich has come! Capture King Cobra and we shall have fine wine and meat for a month! Break the main door of this shop for me!!”

Commandant Su yelled as he personally led a troop of yelling soldiers with powerful crossbows and long spears in their hands. They broke the boutique’s entrance and barged in...

I’m sorry, Commandant Su. I didn’t expect for you come here... The one inside is not King Cobra but the Prefectural Governor’s young lord. Anyway, since you took the blame last time at the city entrance and offended the Prefectural Governor, it’s probably... no big deal for you... to offend him one more time...

Yan Liqiang silently mourned in his heart for Commandant Su...

“Liqiang, what are we going to do now?” Shi Dafeng asked him softly from the side.

Yan Liqiang smiled. “We shall wait here and see how this turns out. If they really find King Cobra inside, the credit and reward of discovering King Cobra will definitely be ours. But since the situation inside is still unknown and we are only students of the martial arts academy with feeble strength, there is no need for us to rush inside and risk our lives. We’ll just do whatever that is within our capabilities!”

The frowning Shen Teng also whispered his question to him. “Liqiang, why did we have to wait until we reached the main street to release the whistling arrow?”

“If we released the whistling arrow in the alley and got ambushed by some expert from the side who could have eliminated the three of us in just the blink of an eye, no one would ever find out about what happened to us!” Yan Liqiang also lowered down his voice in response. “A great commotion will ensue the moment the whistling arrow is released. Look around us, these manors are not places normal folks can afford to stay in. Brother Shen, do you really think ordinary people can possibly open a boutique here and be involved in some sort of shady business with the Shatu people? Besides, we also don’t know who is in that boutique or what is the connection between this boutique and that huge manor on the side. Therefore, we can only release the whistling arrow in the main street where it is a relatively safer place under the watchful eyes of people and out in the open. We also have to expose this Shatu man. Only by doing so, we can protect ourselves and be out of harm’s way. So now, we don’t have to care about what those Wanderers and soldiers have discovered in that boutique. All we need to do is just stand watch here...”

Yan Liqiang’s words were not only audible to Shen Teng but also Shi Dafeng who was at the side. When both of them recalled the situation just now, they were startled as their backs broke into cold sweat at the same time. Both of them were nervous and excited then, how could such important details even cross their minds? Both of them only realized that after hearing Yan Liqiang’s explanation. Danger indeed lurked around the small alley they were in just now and it wasn’t a place for them to linger too long in. Both Shen Teng and Shi Dafeng were so impressed by Yan Liqiang that they could prostrate themselves before him in admiration.

Just as Yan Liqiang said, there was no doubt that the three of them had made some contributions. Even if King Cobra wasn’t in the boutique, this Shatu man must have been involved in some sort of shady business with those people in there. The two Wanderers must have released a signal because they discovered something going on inside the boutique. Therefore, the contribution from the three was exposing the secret dealings involving this Shatu man.

Half of the soldiers that Commandant Su brought with him stayed outside, sealing off the streets and alleys on both sides of the boutique. In just two or three short minutes, the sound of synchronized footsteps rang out again from a distance as another troop of soldiers came rushing here.

Many guards from the surrounding wealthy manors, a few nearby martial arts academy patrol groups, and a crowd of onlookers all flocked to the area. In just the blink of an eye, more than a thousand people had gathered around the streets and the crowd was still steadily increasing in size.

“Little Brother, what is going on here? Were you the ones who released the whistling arrow just now? What happened to this Shatu man on the ground?” The guards of the few wealthy manors who came out to gather information spoke up from the crowd when they saw the abnormal situation surrounding Yan Liqiang and the other two.

“So what’s going on here? Let’s hear it!” The onlookers in the surrounding started yelling loudly.

“We came to Fine Willow Alley for a meal tonight but we didn’t expect to find this Shatu man moving suspiciously. Not only that, he also dressed himself up like a Chinese person and wore a dog fur hat to cover his face. He drove this horse carriage and secretively made his way to the backyard of this boutique to deliver some leather goods. However, there seemed to be something else hidden among the leather goods he was delivering, so we restrained him. But then we saw some Wanderers barging into the backyard of this boutique and heard some fighting noises, we released the whistling arrow. After all, we can’t afford to let the criminals get away...” Yan Liqiang cupped his fist respectfully and spoke to everyone around him loudly as he briefly made an account of the incident that the three of them had encountered tonight so everyone could hear.

“Yes, this Shatu man dressed himself to look like us Chinese and hurried along on his horse carriage to deliver goods at night. He must be up to no good to be acting this suspicious...”

“As expected, heroes are cultivated from youth. The students from the martial arts academy are indeed different...”

The surrounding onlookers immediately broke into discussion as they all sang praises for Yan Liqiang and the rest.

Just when Yan Liqiang finished speaking with everyone, the first batch of Wanderers had arrived. They had directly leaped onto the rooftops and vaulted themselves over the walls, stepping on those roof tiles as they made their way here.

The group of soldiers down there could only stare at those Wanderers and whistle at them while they watched them jump off the rooftops into the small courtyard behind the boutique.

However, in just the blink of an eye, some Wanderers leaped onto the rooftops again from that courtyard and yelled at the other Wanderers who were rushing towards here. “There’s an underground tunnel inside the house at the backyard which leads to that big manor there. The big manor is the main building. King Cobra might be in there!”

When the Wanderers who came later heard that there was actually an underground tunnel inside the boutique which led to the huge wealthy manor on the side, certain that some shady business was definitely going on in there, every single one of them immediately charged towards the big manor that Ye Xiao was in without the slightest hesitation.

Upon hearing there was actually an underground tunnel beneath the boutique which was directly connected to another manor in the distance, the crowd was suddenly in an uproar. The countenance of a few of the people among them immediately contorted because they knew exactly who lived in that huge manor which those Wanderers were going to barge into...

“KING COBRA IS INSIDE THAT HUGE MANOR! EVERYONE, GET INSIDE AND SEIZE HIM! A THOUSAND TAELS OF GOLD IS RIGHT BEFORE OUR EYES!!”

Seeing those Wanderers rush toward that huge manor, many people in the crowd started shouting loudly when they heard that King Cobra might be inside that huge manor. After all, the bounty reward of a thousand taels of gold for King Cobra was a large sum of money that was enough to drive many crazy. Who could possibly remain untempted by such a large sum of wealth before their eyes?

Normally, these people wouldn’t dare to rush inside that huge manor to cause a scene and capture someone. However, the situation was different now. The secret tunnel inside the boutique had already been discovered. It was obvious that there was some sort of shady business going on inside that huge manor and this boutique. Now that a group of highly-skilled Wanderers had taken the lead to barge in there, what was there to be afraid of?

When the crowd was jeering rowdily, a bunch of onlookers in the surroundings shouted and suddenly rushed into the huge manor on the side without thinking.

The entrance of the huge manor was shut. Someone even climbed over the courtyard’s walls and opened the door, instantly letting a few hundred people inside.

When Yan Liqiang saw this scene, he finally felt relieved as he let out a long sigh – the father and son of the Ye Clan were done for...

After hustling and bustling for less than ten minutes, right in front of a thousand onlookers on the street, an unexpected and dramatic scene unfolded before them...

Commandant Su came out from the huge manor Ye Xiao was in along with a few soldiers. Commandant Su’s face, which had always been black, was a few shades darker than the bottom of a frying pan at this moment.

Two weeping girls were escorted between Commandant Su and the few soldiers.

After Commandant Su came out, a big group of Wanderers and a few of those people who had just rushed inside came out with Ye Xiao and a few of his guards in tow.

The upper half of Ye Xiao’s body was bare and he was only wearing a pair of shorts. His face was swollen with a bloody nose and there were two bleeding wounds on his shoulder and hand. He appeared to be in an awkward predicament. Both his hands were twisted behind his back by the two Wanderers walking behind him. With his pale skin exposed, he was shivering in the cold wind of the night...

Even in such a situation, Ye Xiao was still struggling while barking like a mad dog until his voice was hoarse and exhausted.

“YOU GUYS ARE DEAD MEAT! DEAD MEAT! DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM? MY FATHER IS THE PINGXI PREFECTURAL GOVERNOR, YE TIANCHENG...! I AM YE XIAO! JUST YOU WAIT... I WILL REMEMBER ALL OF YOU... THOSE WHO HAVE BARGED IN HERE TONIGHT, NONE OF YOU SHALL ESCAPE! YOU, WANDERERS, AND ALSO YOU... THE BLACK-FACED COMMANDANT... AND YOU MOB OF PEOPLE... WAIT AND SEE HOW I WILL FINISH YOU ALL... I WILL HAVE MY FATHER DECAPITATE YOU ALL!!”

The onlookers who had gathered around the main streets were waiting here to see if King Cobra had been captured. However, King Cobra was nowhere in sight. Instead, they saw a half-naked young lord seized by a few Wanderers in a pathetic state. All of them were dumbstruck, completely clueless about what was happening. How did this group of people end up capturing the Prefectural Governor’s young lord? And why were the soldiers on the side actually not in the least bit concerned about it?

Ye Xiao was pushed out the door and he actually recognized someone among the group of bailiffs who were maintaining orders on the main street outside. He started yelling as though he had found his last straw to clutch at.

“CONSTABLE ZHOU, SAVE ME! ARREST THE MOB AND THE WANDERERS!!”

When the person who appeared to be the leader among the bailiffs saw Ye Xiao seized by a group of Wanderers, his countenance instantly contorted. Without thinking, he unsheathed the saber hanging on his waist and charged towards them. “What are you guys doing? How dare you?! Release Young Master Ye this instant...!”

Whoosh...

“AHHH..!!” Constable Zhou let out a blood-curdling scream before he fell on the ground after taking two steps. Unbeknownst to anyone, an arrow had pierced his thigh. The feather fletching of that arrow was still vibrating in the air. The few bailiffs in the city who were about to charge forward behind Constable Zhou instantly and involuntarily changed expressions when they saw Constable Zhou take an arrow and fall to the ground.

Two Wanderers stood on top of the courtyard wall of that huge mansion with bows in their hands as they stared coldly at the few bailiffs. Their arrows were aimed at them.

Countless onlookers in the surroundings were suddenly in an uproar when they saw that the Wanderers actually dared to point their arrows at the bailiffs of the city.

“A-ARE YOU ALL THINKING OF REBELLING?!” Constable Zhou who was on the ground yelled at those Wanderers, trying to be tough on the outside while he was all weak on the inside.

“Quit trying to scare us, we’re not going to be daunted by you.” One of the Wanderers who seized Ye Xiao sneered coldly. He then scanned the crowd of onlookers on the street and loudly announced, “Ye Xiao, the son of the Pingxi Prefectural Governor, Ye Tiancheng, is colluding with Shatu people to abduct girls in the city. They are delivered from the secret underground tunnel in the boutique at the side to the basement of this manor for his degenerate pleasures. He is cultivating nefarious techniques to establish his foundations. When we barged inside, we caught him red-handed and found irrefutable evidence. Many of the soldiers of Pingxi City who barged in also witnessed it. Those two girls had been delivered here after they were abducted by the Shatu people outside of Pingxi City today. If we had gone in a bit late, they would have been violated by this beast. According to the Great Han Empire, the culprit and accomplices will be sentenced to capital punishment without any exception for cases including female abduction and rape. Half of the culprit’s family properties will be confiscated while the other half will be rewarded to the captor. This beast, Ye Xiao, has already been caught by us. If anyone dares to snatch him from us, don’t blame us for any consequences that might happen to you...”

The few thousand onlookers around the street were stunned when they heard the Wanderer speak before all of them and they instantly erupted with curses...

“YOU BEAST...!”

“No wonder many girls have gone missing in Pingxi City every year for the past two years. It must be the work of this brat and the Shatu people...!”

“Right, and this is definitely not the first time. This beast even dug an underground tunnel to pull the wool over people’s eyes...!”

In the midst of everyone’s curses, a desperate voice suddenly rang out from the crowd. “Caixia, Caifeng, why are both of you here...?!”

A man tried to squeeze his way through the crowd while yelling desperately. He shouted loudly at those girls who were escorted by Commandant Su and the few guards.

When two bailiffs were about to intercept the man, he suddenly shouted again.“LET ME THROUGH, THEY’RE MY YOUNGER SISTERS!!”

“BIG BROTHER...!” The two girls immediately wailed when they saw the man and ran towards him.

The moment the two bailiffs who were blocking the man hesitated, the man instantly broke through them and rushed over to pull both girls to him. “Why are both of you here? You’ve been out of the city the whole day and never returned until so late. Mother and Father were worried sick and had me come out to find both of you!”

“We don’t know either. Little Sister and I went outside the city to pray, but on our way home, we bumped into a few Shatu men. They suddenly pulled a sack over our heads and then the rest was a blur to us. When we woke up just now, we were down there, locked up by someone. They were about to drug Little Sister and I. If it weren’t for those soldiers and Mister Wanderers, we probably wouldn’t have gotten another chance to see Father, Mother, and you again, Big Brother...”

As the three of them spoke, they hugged each other on the streets and wept.

The scene stirred the hearts of countless onlookers who also felt a little afraid – fortunately, it wasn’t their family members who had fallen into the hands of that beast...

Just then, another commotion erupted in the huge manor. A Wanderer rushed out from the huge manor and yelled to everyone outside. “There’s a dried up well at the back of this huge manor under a rock garden. We just removed the rock and found more than ten female skeletons in that well...!”

“YOU... MOBS... AND LOWLIVES... I AM THE PREFECTURAL GOVERNOR’S SON... WHEN MY FATHER COMES, I WILL HAVE HIM DECAPITATE ALL OF YOU...”

Ye Xiao was still shouting like a fool at this moment, threatening everyone around him.

The crowd of onlookers exploded completely.

“LET’S BEAT THE SH*T OUT OF THIS ANIMAL!!!”

“HELL YES, BEAT HIM TO DEATH!!!”

“BEAT HIM TO DEATH!!”

“KILL THIS SON OF A B*TCH WHO HAS DEVASTATED THE LIVES OF COMMONERS...!”

The angry crowd surged forward like a tide. In just a flash, they broke through the defense of the ring of bailiffs and charged towards Ye Xiao. Even those bailiffs seemed to only be putting up an act. They had no plans to stop them at all...

“YOU BEAST!!” The big brother of those two girls raised his head, showing bloodshot eyes. He was the first to rush in front of Ye Xiao to deliver a hard punch to his face which instantly knocked two of his teeth out.

When black-faced Commandant Su saw the angry crowd pouring forth, he was prepared to order his subordinates to stop them. However, one of the soldiers beside him secretly tugged his sleeve. With a low voice, he said, “Sir, if Ye Xiao lives, you will be the one in trouble. If he dies now, this will be a solid court case that will have nothing much to do with you, Sir...”

“F*ck!” Upon hearing that, Commandant Su swore under his breath and remained motionless.

Looking at the fuming crowd charging towards him, Ye Xiao’s countenance contorted for real.

The two Wanderers that were holding him exchanged looks. A cold gleam flashed across their eyes. One of them suddenly balled up his fist and with a Drilling Fist technique, he silently punched Ye Xiao’s lower back. Ye Xiao instantly paled and coughed out a mouthful of fresh blood. The two Wanderers then conveniently pushed him into the angry crowd charging towards him...

It was just as what the soldier beside Commandant Su had said: if Ye Xiao were beaten to death by these countless commoners in Pingxi City right now, everything that had transpired tonight would lead to an indisputable case. If someone were to reverse the verdict for Ye Xiao, countless citizens of Pingxi City would be branded as criminals. Who would dare to do so? Wouldn’t they worry that this might provoke the commoners to rebel? If Ye Xiao died, then the Wanderers would definitely be rewarded for their work and the only thing they had to do was wait for the Great Han Empire’s authorities to award them. If Ye Xiao was alive, who knew what his father, Ye Tiancheng, would do? These Wanderers were all well-acquainted with the ways of the world, so they naturally could already see it coming.

Shi Dafeng was eager to participate too. Just when he was about to charge in there, Yan Liqiang held him back by his arm and shook his head at him.

Seeing those soldiers remain motionless and the Wanderers pushing Ye Xiao out, Yan Liqiang was certain that Ye Xiao didn’t have to wait until tomorrow to have a court trial because he would undoubtedly die tonight.

With the crowd’s rage that was boiling like a volcano, let alone a second-generation rich kid like Ye Xiao, even Benito Mussolini would die.

It was best for Ye Xiao to die now. Otherwise, by the time Ye Tiancheng arrived, Yan Liqiang was 100% certain he would definitely put on the act of upholding justice and righteousness even at the sacrifice of blood relations here without any hesitation...

A valiant soldier who rushed forward to shield Constable Zhou’s head was instantly trampled by countless feet all over his head and body. If it weren’t for the two bailiffs on the side who quickly pulled him out and to the back, he probably would’ve been killed in the stampede. Nevertheless, Constable Zhou was already on the verge of death

“YOU BEAST!!!”

“BEAT HIM TO HIS DEATH!”

“FOR THE LADIES WHO WERE MURDERED BY THIS BEAST!!”

Countless people snarled at Ye Xiao, and each of them had their fists raised high in the air. Ye Xiao’s figure was akin to a leaf caught in a violent storm and rolling waves as it disappeared in the crowd in just the blink of an eye.

In the beginning, Yan Liqiang could still hear Ye Xiao’s miserable shrieks from afar. Merely a minute later, he could no longer hear his voice...

“Why are the three of you here?” Just then, a figure suddenly appeared behind Yan Liqiang and the rest.

The moment the three of them turned their heads around, they saw that Shi Changfeng had already arrived in his fluttery white clothes unbeknownst to them. He looked at them with his sparkling eyes...

Shi Changfeng was outside the city just now. He only rushed over after he spotted Shen Teng’s fire arrow and identified that it was from a martial arts academy student.

Though Shi Changfeng was quick, it still took him more than ten minutes to get here. By then, everything had already culminated to the final moment.

“Well, Teacher Shi...” Yan Liqiang reorganized his language and narrated a complete report to him. He started with how he, Shen Teng, and Shi Dafeng went to have a meal together to how he recognized the Shatu man driving the horse carriage, and then how the three of them tailed the man all the way here before taking him down in addition to the series of events that happened from that point on.

Despite Shi Changfeng’s broad knowledge and extensive observation, he was also very surprised when he heard Yan Liqiang’s account. However, he also managed to understand some critical points in just the blink of an eye.

When he saw that no one was paying attention to them, he pulled Yan Liqiang and the other two to the side. Then he whispered to them with a grave expression on his face. “If anyone asks questions to any of you later, just tell them what Yan Liqiang said just now. Tell the truth as it is, do not deliberately complicate the story by all means. Don’t even mention that you know those Wanderers. Aside from that Shatu man, all of you were clueless and did not participate in anything. All of you noticed was something fishy going on in that boutique and thought King Cobra might hiding here, and therefore you released the warning signal to request for help. Everything that happened after that did not involve you. Understand...?”

Yan Liqiang and the other two exchanged a single glance with each other before they all nodded.

Now that this incident involved the Prefectural Governor, Ye Tiancheng, the three of them naturally understood the seriousness of the situation.

After Shi Changfeng finished briefing Yan Liqiang and the others, he then slightly frowned at the angry crowd. “The person who got surrounded by those people is...”

“None other than the young lord of the Prefectural Governor, Ye Xiao...” Shen Teng replied.

When Shi Changfeng heard that it was Ye Xiao who was surrounded by the crowd that was as violent as the wind and a rainstorm, his frown disappeared. He shook his head. He just stood beside Yan Liqiang and the rest and continued to watch...

A few minutes later, a greater commotion could be heard at the end of the street. The ground shook as though a huge cavalry was charging towards the location.

Yan Liqiang turned his head around and discovered that instead of Ye Tiancheng, it was the Military Governor of Pingxi Prefecture, Huangfu Qianqi, who had arrived. He was riding on a rhinodrake steed, fully dressed in armor. He took the lead and charged forward with the most elite cavalry in Pingxi Prefecture behind him.

Due to the overtly huge commotion here, Huangfu Qianqi was also alarmed since he guarded the city and he personally brought no less than an entire cavalry with him.

‘Strange. Ye Tiancheng is still not here... Could it be that Ye guy is actually not in Pingxi City?’– A thought emerged in Yan Liqiang’s mind. If it really was true, then this would truly become a laughable matter. If Ye Tiancheng didn’t appear tonight, then no one would even be able to see his final act.

“The Military Governor has arrived!!” Someone shouted among the crowd.

The surging crowd around Ye Xiao instantly dispersed with a loud rumble, suddenly clearing up an empty space in the middle of the main street, leaving only one person lying there on the ground motionlessly.

The only underpants Ye Xiao, who was lying on the floor, was wearing had already fallen onto the ground. He was completely naked right now as he laid on the ground like a dead dog. Blood was leaking out from his eyes, ears, mouth and nose. His entire head had already sunk in because his skull was crushed. Both his hands and arms were twisted in weird angles because they were already broken. Bruises decorated his body – it was no longer possible to find even a patch of uninjured skin from his head to his toe. His penis and the balls in his crotch had already been crushed during the chaos just now, reduced to nothing but mangled flesh. The most revolting part was that his feces had been beaten out of him through his rear end. He was totally incontinent. The sickening stench hung in the winds of the night.

Ye Xiao couldn’t be more dead right now. Not even God could resurrect him. The way he died was less than a stray dog; he died in a disgraceful and revolting manner.

Seeing Ye Xiao dead like this, Yan Liqiang finally felt relieved. Of course, even if a trash like Ye Xiao died a hundred times, Yan Liqiang wouldn’t show an ounce of sympathy.

The moment Huangfu Qianqi’s troops and horses arrived, their austere aura instantly silenced the previously agitated street. Only the crackling sounds of the burning torches could be heard. Many people’s hearts were thumping nervously, especially the commoners who had participated in ganging up and beating Ye Xiao up just now. All of them were raging with fury earlier, but now that they saw that the troops and horses of the city had arrived, they couldn’t help but feel somewhat guilty.

Commandant Su and the few officers who had arrived immediately went over and reported the incident that had transpired here to Huangfu Qianqi.

After listening to the reports of the few officers, Huangfu Qianqi looked at the group of calm Wanderers who seemed to be waiting for something good to happen and the thousands of commoners who were watching him attentively from the sides of the street before his gaze landed on Ye Xiao who was lying right in the middle of the main street. One of the officers immediately ran over there from the side. He checked Ye Xiao’s body for a short while before he shook his head at Huangfu Qianqi.

Huangfu Qianqi waved his hand. The officer then took off the cape he was wearing and covered Ye Xiao’s corpse with it.

Huangfu Qianqi, who was riding on his horse, shut his eyes. After a few seconds, he reopened them. His eyes shone decisively before he issued two orders.

“Irrelevant parties should quickly disperse. Do not obstruct the traffic flow of this main street and cause any more trouble...”

“Inform the Law Enforcement Office personnel to come and take statements...”

After issuing the two orders, Huangfu Qianqi turned his horse around and immediately left with his troops... He left just like that...

Upon seeing Huangfu Qianqi leave with his troops, the crowd of more than a thousand onlookers was silent for a moment before they started cheering.

Yan Liqiang also breathed out a sigh of relief. He knew that Huangfu Qianqi had made the right decision.

Putting aside Huangfu Qianqi who was known for his unblemished reputation and how he treasured his reputation, who would possibly still dare to lick the Prefectural Governor’s boots over his young lord who had been beaten to his death by the angry commoners in city for the irrefutable proof of his heinous crime and thus become enemies with the commoners in city and this huge group of Wanderers? If he really stirred up a civil revolt and the situation got out of hand, the first person the Prefectural Governor would decapitate would probably be the person who started this mess.

After all, in this world, there weren’t many brainless people, let alone military officers.

For his own son to cause such a huge incident in the city which caused widespread indignation and discontent among people, the days Ye Tiancheng had left as Pingxi Prefectural Governor were probably numbered too...

...

With Shi Changfeng’s company, Yan Liqiang and the other two were invited to the Law Enforcement Office where their statements in regards to tonight’s incident were taken separately. Four or five hours later, they were able to finally leave the Law Enforcement Office.

Yan Liqiang and the other two had said nothing but the truth. Naturally, the three statements matched each other without any issues, and no one could really find any faults with them – the three students from the martial arts academy were dining at Du Clan’s Kuai in Fine Willow Alley. One of the students’ eyesight and memory was great enough to actually recognize a coachman who passed by Fine Willow Alley on a horse carriage in disguise as the one he had met two months ago when he entered the city. The Shatu man was moving suspiciously so three of them tailed him all the way from Fine Willow Alley to a boutique. After subduing the coachman, they discovered that some Wanderers had barged into the courtyard and heard battle noises, so they released a signal – was there a problem with this?

Not only were there no issues with the three statements that they had provided, anyone who read them would sing praises for Yan Liqiang and the other two for being vigilant and decisive. As expected of good students from the martial arts academy.

For the sake of verifying the statements that Yan Liqiang and the other two had given, the Law Enforcement Office even called the owner and family of Du Clan’s Kuai in Fine Willow Alley to come in. They inquired them if Yan Liqiang and the other two had indeed dined in his shop last night. The answer was of course, affirmative.

...

By the time Yan Liqiang and the other two came out from the Law Enforcement Office, it was already past one o’clock in the morning.

“Try to keep this incident low for now. Go back to doing what you should be doing...” Shi Changfeng reminded the three of them when he left the Law Enforcement Office with them together.

With Shi Changfeng present and knowing his status as an academy tutor at the martial arts academy, the few officers in the Law Enforcement didn’t deliberately make things difficult for Yan Liqiang and the others. They asked them some standard questions and took their statements under Shi Changfeng’s supervision. After settling all that without any issues, the three of them were asked to sign their names on the statements they had provided before they wrapped things up.

“Thank you, Teacher Shi...”

“No need to thank me. What the three of you did today was completely right. You all are brave and astute. I am proud of you. As expected of the students from our martial arts academy. Especially you, Yan Liqiang!” Shi Changfeng’s gaze fell on Yan Liqiang. It was filled with admiration as though he had just gotten to know Yan Liqiang all over again. “I didn’t expect you to be so observant and sharp-eyed enough to be able to immediately see through that Shatu man’s disguise. Impressive, really impressive...”

Yan Liqiang smiled shyly and scratched his head. “You’re flattering me, Teacher Shi. I was just really annoyed by those Shatu people the day I entered the city. This city is ours, it belongs to the Chinese. Even we have to abide the laws and dismount from our steeds when we enter the city. Why are these Shatu people entitled to ostentatiously enter the city on their steeds? Although preferential treatment is given to Shatu people, this is not the way to do it. This is simply letting them abuse their treatment over our heads. Not only that, we also have to swallow our anger and defend their dignity all the time as though they are our grandfathers while we are their grandchildren. This doesn’t make sense at all. When that Shatu man rode past me that day on his rhinodrake steed, he even gave us a disdainful look. I could recognize him even if he were reduced to ashes...”

“You are right, Liqiang. The Shatu people in Pingxi City are indeed too arrogant. Over these few months ever since I arrived in Pingxi City, I’ve seen Shatu people bully the Chinese a few times and the Law Enforcement Office actually turns a blind eye to them...” Shi Dafeng chimed in from the side, showing his indignation.

“The ‘Writ of Grace’ has already become totally different over these few years...” Shen Teng also sighed.

“Powerless anger is meaningless. Refrain yourselves from speaking such words from now on. All of you will have the rights to talk about things like this when you progress into a Martial Warrior in the future or when you attain higher realms...” Shi Changfeng told the three of them profoundly.

Yan Liqiang and the other two nodded.

Since it was already past curfew in the city and the sky was already dark, Shi Changfeng figured it might be inconvenient for the three of them to return at this hour. So he decided he might as well rent four rooms at an inn which was not too far from the Law Enforcement Office and let the three of them rest for the night...

Tonight, Yan Liqiang was finally able to sleep soundly on the bed at the inn...

Wang Haofei, Mo Leng, and Ye Xiao’s lives ended in succession. Before the first signs of danger even appeared, it was already completely extinguished. The heavy rock at the bottom of Yan Liqiang’s heart instantly vanished without a trace. After a good night’s sleep at the inn, Yan Liqiang felt as though he was a new man after his own biological clock woke him up the very next early morning. He felt relaxed and refreshed as the joy and confidence of being in control of his own fate had once again returned to him.

After yesterday, his father, his friends, his family, and his own destiny had been changed. Yan Liqiang had a million reasons to celebrate and rejoice. More importantly, he managed to accomplish everything alone through his own efforts, struggles, and planning. If this were a project or mission, this was much more challenging, difficult, and dangerous than any other project or mission assigned to him in his previous life. The slightest mistake would cost him his life. If the difficulty of such a project or mission wasn’t classified as hell level, then it would be expert level.

Yan Liqiang truly felt like he had grown quite significantly after making it past this stage.

After he woke up and completed his morning regime, his external cultivation, and washing up in the bedroom, the sky had just turned bright.

Upon completing his morning routine, Yan Liqiang sensed that he was getting closer to passing Stretching Tendon and Extending Bone stage when he was cultivating Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing. He’d probably pass this stage very soon. Then he would be able to immediately establish his dantian and officially progress into a Martial Warrior.

Knock, knock, knock...

Just when Yan Liqiang had hung his towel up in the room, a series of knocks rang out. He went over to open the bedroom door and found Shi Dafeng and Shen Teng standing outside.

“Liqiang, how’s it going? Are you done?” Shi Dafeng chuckled and patted him on his shoulder.

“I’m done and am about to go out!” Yan Liqiang said. He stepped out and shut the door behind him. “Did you all have a good sleep last night?”

“Not bad. How about you? You look good!”

Yan Liqiang laughed. “A clear conscience sleeps even through thunder. Of course I had a good sleep!”

“When I slept last night, I kept thinking about everything that happened. Even now, I still find it unbelievable. We only discovered a Shatu man and I didn’t expect to cause such a huge incident which involved even the Prefectural Governor. I heard that the young lord of that Prefectural Governor was one of our senior martial brothers at the martial arts academy. That’s really... really...” Shen Teng was still reflecting on the incident that had transpired last night. When he talked about Ye Xiao, he didn’t know how to continue his sentence.

“That Ye Xiao was indeed the scum of all scums who was really less than an animal. Even his death couldn’t wipe out the heinous crimes he committed, right?” Yan Liqiang continued his sentence. “Brother Shen, there’s no need to ponder so much over this. God’s plans supersede our own. This is the fate of a person who had committed his full share of crimes. He thought no one would discover what he had done, and even if someone did, they wouldn’t be able to do anything about a young lord of the Prefectural Governor. Yet he forgot that God was watching his every move. In this world, everything is closely linked with one another. Hence, a slight change will affect everything else. Now that God decided to finish him, he wasn’t able to escape from it no matter how well he hid...”

“Well said!” A voice rang out. Shi Changfeng appeared from another corridor nearby.

“Teacher Shi!”

Yan Liqiang and the rest hurriedly bowed to Shi Changfeng. They usually didn’t really come into contact with Shi Changfeng. However, after last night, they realized that Shi Changfeng was indeed a warmhearted person who tried to defend them at all times. Hence, the respect they had for Shi Changfeng increased even more.

“Did all of you have your breakfast?” Shi Changfeng asked.

“Not yet!”

“Let’s go then. I shall treat you all to breakfast!”

“Hehehe, we won’t decline your offer then, Teacher Shi!” Yan Liqiang replied with a smile.

The four of them picked a slightly more silent corner to sit down in after they arrived at the inn’s dining hall. They ordered some noodles, steamed buns, and soup before they proceeded to enjoy their breakfast.

“I went to ask around in the Law Enforcement Office just now and got some information from those two Wanderers you all saw last night. They said they also realized that the Shatu man was in disguise and thought the goods he was transporting in the horse carriage were quite suspicious. So they tailed his horse carriage all the way to the boutique. Inside the boutique, they discovered a tunnel underneath the house but didn’t dare to enter recklessly so they released a signal to the other Wanderers...” Shi Changfeng spoke calmly.

“Oh, I see...” Shi Dafeng and Shen Teng both nodded.

Yan Liqiang only bit a mouthful of steamed bun upon hearing the news and didn’t make any further comments. Those two Wanderers were prideful; they naturally wouldn’t admit that they had only tailed the horse carriage because they saw the three of them following the horse carriage last night. But that was fine too. This way, it would be easier for the three of them to distance themselves away from the incident that happened last night.

“Teacher Shi, was the Prefectural Governor away from Pingxi City yesterday?” Yan Liqiang asked.

Shi Changfeng’s eyes bore into Yan Liqiang. “The Prefectural Governor was away at Panshan County yesterday to inspect the winter irrigation works in the county. After receiving the news, he hastened on with his journey last night and just returned an hour ago...”

“I see.” Yan Liqiang secretly thought to himself that everything was just as he had surmised. He only returned this morning, so the dust had already long settled since last night. The only thing Ye Tiancheng could do now was wipe his own ass. Even so, he might not be able to perfectly wipe it clean.

“After breakfast, you all will follow me back to the martial arts academy. Things might be a little chaotic in the city in the next few days. Just focus on your studies and training in the academy. Don’t pay attention to whatever goes on outside!”

“Understood!” Shi Dafeng and Shen Teng nodded. Both of them naturally understood what Shi Changfeng meant by ‘chaotic’. King Cobra’s case wasn’t even settled and now the young lord of the Prefectural Governor was involved in a serious case like this which cost at least ten lives. Not only that, he was even colluding with the Shatu people. Over the course of just one night, the incident that happened had most likely spread like wildfire across the entire city. So the Prefectural Governor had hurried back to put out the fire. There was no way this city would remain undisturbed.

“Teacher Shi, I’d like to take a trip home!” Yan Liqiang suddenly spoke up.

“Why?”

“Before I came to Pingxi City, my father was injured and he had yet to fully recover. It’s getting quite cold these few days. I’m a little concerned, so I’d like to return to check up on him!” Yan Liqiang told a half-truth; but even so, his reason was impeccable.

“Alright, I guess it’s fine for you to leave Pingxi City and return home for a few days!” Shi Changfeng muttered to himself irresolutely, then nodded. “However, you must not slack off in your training after returning home!”

“Yes, Teacher Shi, I will keep that in mind!”

...

They left the inn after they finished breakfast and went their separate ways.

Yan Liqiang was prepared to return to Wuyang Village first to pack up before leaving Pingxi City later in the afternoon for Huanglong County to meet Yan Dechang – because Yan Dechang would bring a batch of kukri knives to the Weaponsmiths Quarter in Huanglong County tomorrow. If he met him at Huanglong County, then Yan Dechang naturally wouldn’t take a trip to Pingxi City.

After walking for less than five hundred meters away from the inn, Yan Liqiang met a group of people on the main street.

There were no less than a few hundred of them, both young and old, weeping all the way in their mourning garbs while beating on a gong. They carried the coffin and scattered paper money along the main street as they made their way toward the Law Enforcement Office.

Walking in the frontmost of the group were two old and gray-haired elderlies. The old man walked with a cane, supported by two other youths in mourning garbs by his sides. Tears coursed down the old woman’s cheeks. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying. She was wailing loudly while walking. “Oh, my daughter! You have died so tragically! Since you went missing two years ago, Mother always dreamt about you telling me that you are cold. I only found out today that you were killed by the young lord of that Prefectural Governor and got tossed into a well where you have been in total darkness! Mother has come here today to bring you home...!”

“What is wrong with this world? Is there still any justice in Pingxi City? God, open your eyes and take a good look...!” Tears also coursed down the cheeks of the old man beside her. He walked while yelling towards the heavens in anger.

“The son of the Prefectural Governor was colluding with a different tribe to devastate the commoners! Where is justice?! Where is it in God’s name...?!” The people among the group who were scattering paper money cried out while they walked.

When people saw this group of people approaching, everyone on the main street gave way to them. Everyone remained silent as they watched the group make their way towards the Law Enforcement Office. Almost all of them were talking about the incident from last night. The eyes of a few uncles and aunts at the roadside reddened at the scene.

Even those bailiffs who were patrolling the streets could only stand aside in silence when they saw the group; they didn’t obstruct their path either. After all, most of these bailiffs were also ordinary people like the commoners in the city – they each had a conscience and compassion too.

Yan Liqiang stood by the roadside. He could only mourn in silence.

After the group of people passed by, Yan Liqiang continued on forward and turned into another street. After walking for less than two li, he ran into another wave of weeping people who walked along the streets in tears, carrying a coffin towards the Law Enforcement Office...

Nearly every clan inside or outside the city which had girls going missing over the past few years rushed to the Law Enforcement Office upon receiving news about last night’s incident. All of Pingxi City was shrouded by a miserable atmosphere. The entire city grieved and their grievances soared to the skies. Yan Liqiang saw people weeping and wailing, searching and yelling out for their family along the way.

If Ye Tiancheng could still sit securely in his position as the Prefectural Governor after this, then he figured he should probably... just let the Great Han Empire be destroyed...

“Long time no see, brothers...!”

When Yan Liqiang jumped off from the horse carriage, the eyes of both soldiers who stood guard at the entrance of Huanglong County’s Weaponsmiths Quarter widened as though they couldn’t believe it was Yan Liqiang who was walking towards them.

However, after Yan Liqiang’s greeting, both of them finally responded.

“Ah! Young Master Yan, Young Master Yan is back...!” The two soldiers were suddenly excited and quickly jogged forward.

During Yan Liqiang’s stay at the Weaponsmiths Quarter a few months ago, his relationship with everyone was great and everyone loved him. When they found out later that he got first place among top three in the Martial Arts County Trial Examination of Qinghe County and could enroll in the Pingxi Prectural Martial Arts Academy, everyone in the Weaponsmiths Quarter was happy for him. Little did the two soldiers expect Yan Liqiang to actually return to the Weaponsmiths Quarter once again during such a bitterly cold time like this.

“Brothers, I bought some stuff and they’re on the carriage. Can I trouble both of you to help me unload them...?”

“Sure thing!” The two soldiers laughed heartily. They went behind the horse carriage with the coachman, opened the carriage door, and took out the things Yan Liqiang had put inside there.

There were four big jars of wine, each weighing about fifty jin. A thick rope made out of straws was tied around the wine jars, holding them securely together like a net. In an era without styrofoam or plastic, this was the way to package wine jars to be transported over a long journey. Although it looked old fashioned, it was very effective. The wine jars were still perfectly undamaged though they knocked against each other during the trip.

Yan Liqiang specially bought the four jars of wine from Pingxi City. He requested for people to deliver it on a ship to Huanglong County’s wharf and hired a carriage to transport them here.

“Ah, Jade Luo Spring...” One of the soldier’s nose twitched when they unloaded the four jars of wine from the carriage, instantly recognizing the faint aroma of the wine which had leaked out from the jars.

“I know everyone in the Weaponsmiths Quarter enjoys wine. So this time, the only souvenir I brought from Pingxi City is their local specialty, Jade Luo Spring, for brothers to try. We shall drink them tonight. Just in time to warm everyone up!” Yan Liqiang laughed.

“I didn’t expect Young Master Yan to still remember us...” The soldiers were extremely happy and were totally moved upon hearing how Yan Liqiang had taken the trouble to visit everyone in the Weaponsmiths Quarter with wine from Pingxi City.

“Of course I remember. How can I possibly forget?” Yan Liqiang said. He made his way over and was about to lift two jars of wine up.

“Young Master Yan, just leave them to us!”

“No need to be so courteous, brothers. Doesn’t matter who carries them!” Yan Liqiang single-handedly lifted a jar of wine and then walked toward the Weaponsmiths Quarter together with the other two soldiers. “Oh right, is Uncle Qian around?”

“Of course he is. Quarter Master Qian just returned not more than two hours ago. He’s not out yet...”

“Why? Uncle Qian didn’t go drink and fool around in the county town these few days?”

“Young Master Yan, we won’t dare to answer that question. You should ask Quarter Master Qian yourself when you see him...”

“Hahahaha...”

Not too far past the entrance of Weaponsmiths Quarter, he spotted another few soldiers with familiar faces. When those soldiers saw that Yan Liqiang had arrived, they seemed to be quite surprised. Yet as soon as they saw the things Yan Liqiang was holding, they knew that he had brought some souvenirs from Pingxi City for everyone and all of them instantly surged with excitement. They hurriedly took the wine jars from Yan Liqiang and excitedly led him inside.

“Young Master Yan has returned! Young Master Yan is back to visit everyone...!”

The few soldiers shouted while they walked. Many people in the Weaponsmiths Quarter came running out to greet Yan Liqiang when they heard them and made some good-natured jokes.

“Aha, our champion among the top three in the Martial Arts County Trial Examination of Qinghe County has returned...!”

“How many wives do you have now, Young Master Yan? Hahaha!!”

After fighting and scheming against others in Pingxi City for a few months and escaping danger by a hair’s breadth, Yan Liqiang truly felt as though he had reunited with his family when he saw the friendly and warm familiar faces back at the Weaponsmiths Quarter. A warm sensation mysteriously flowed in Yan Liqiang’s heart as he greeted everyone with a bright smile.

Upon arriving at the quarters and still not seeing Qian Su in the courtyard that he lived in, Yan Liqiang only found out he was over at the Weaponsmiths Quarter’s coalyard after asking around. He asked the others to put away the wine and told them there was no need to inform Qian Su. Then he personally made his way toward the coalyard.

The Weaponsmiths Quarter had a high coal consumption rate. Therefore, it had a designated place for coal storage. Not far from the blacksmith workshop, the Weaponsmiths Quarter had built a huge warehouse to store coal. That huge warehouse was known as the coalyard. The coalyard was located at the side of the Weaponsmiths Quarter where it was relatively remote so no one had heard the commotion yet.

When Yan Liqiang was outside the coalyard, he could already hear Qian Su’s thunderous voice before he even went in.

” WANG DEFA, WHAT THE F*CK DO YOU DO FOR A LIVING?! How dare you bring coals like these in? Take a look at this five hundred thousand jin of coal, half of them are crushed like fine sand. One-third of the remaining ones are yellowish brown. How is the boiler room going to use them? I usually turn a blind eye to your slightly greasy hands. I can tell exactly just how much grease there is in every ten thousand jin of coal, but I’ve just been too lazy to point it out. Don’t you think I have spoiled you too much? Some nerve you have to be deceiving me with these coals! Are you undermining my capability as the Quarter Master, hm?!”

Just by listening to that voice alone, Yan Liqiang could already almost imagine the furious look on Qian Su’s face. Despite not putting on any airs in the Weaponsmiths Quarter, there was no one in the Weaponsmiths Quarter who wasn’t afraid of Qian Su.

“You have wronged me, Quarter Master!” A shrill, sobbing voice rang out. “I wouldn’t have the audacity to trick you in any way, even if I ate the heart of a bear and the guts of a leopard! I’m sure you know that every place that uses coal gets anxious every year especially when winter is approaching. A few days ago, there was a landslide on Mount Xiaolong and the coal couldn’t be transported out. Due to this incident, everywhere else in the county cannot cope with the demand. Not only that but the price of coals is also skyrocketing. A month ago, the price of ten thousand jin of good coal was only eight tales, three maces, and five candareens of silver. But now, the price for the same amount of coal has risen to more than ten taels of silver. Even so, a sale is not guaranteed!”

“The few coal warehouses in the county received orders two days ago from the higher-ups to transport their remaining coal stocks to Pingxi City to deal with the emergency. The people in the Law Enforcement Office explained that Pingxi City mustn’t suffer a deficiency in coal because that is where the Prefectural Governor lives. If there isn’t enough for the citizens of the county, then everyone should just burn firewood, cow dung, or straw. So these are the remaining ones which I went through the trouble of snatching from Boss Guo’s hands using the Weaponsmiths Quarter’s name. Not only that, the quoted price was the old price. The transaction was properly documented at Boss Guo’s place, you may go and verify it. If you pay him a visit, I’m sure you will also be informed of the current selling price of coal in Huanglong County. If I, Wang Defa, didn’t have any morals and took even a single copper coin from these coals for myself, you may chop my hands off. I will never hold it against you...”

“So, are you saying that I have falsely accused you? Tell me then, how will the boiler room use these crushed coals that are as fine as sand?”

“We’d rather have the coals here than run on low on them. Otherwise, the furnace in the boiler room cannot even be ignited and you will be chopping my head off. If it’s really troublesome, you can pass the coal back to me, I’ll sell it to someone at its original price...”

“Hm, alright then. Let’s just leave it here first. I will see what to do with it later...”

Yan Liqiang stayed outside the coalyard for a while. He waited until both of them were done talking before he cleared his throat and walked in.

“Uncle Qian, Manager Wang...”

The two people standing in the coalyard instantly turned their heads around and seemed to be quite shocked, especially Qian Su. He almost didn’t expect to see Yan Liqiang here.

“Young Master Yan...” Wang Defa, who had just been torn off a strip by Qian Su, immediately forced a smile when he saw Yan Liqiang.

“Ah, Liqiang, why are you here?”

“It’s been a long time, Uncle Qian! I’ve come to visit!”

Yan Liqiang’s visit made things livelier in the Weaponsmiths Quarter. Aside from the wine he had brought for everyone, he also ordered a few roasted lambs on the way and had them delivered to the Weaponsmiths Quarter. With wine and meat, the dinner that evening became another special feast. Everyone’s laughs and cheerful conversations went on endlessly. How could anyone in the Weaponsmiths Quarter possibly not adore a person like Yan Liqiang?

After having dinner with everyone, Yan Liqiang followed Qian Su to the place he stayed at. Yan Liqiang then took out the gift he had brought for him – more than a decade-old ginseng. Although not very valuable, it was an attentive gift.

“Just you coming here is enough, why did you still bring me these things? You must have spent a lot on the wine and meat today too!” Qian Su took a sip of his tea and said this after he placed the box with the old ginseng in it on the table in the living room with a broad smile.

“Uncle Qian, you are always either working hard to serve the nation in the Weaponsmiths Quarter, be it on the frontlines for Huanglong County or mingling with the people to share and understand their sentiments. I kept pondering and really had no idea what would be the best gift to give to Uncle Qian. So I bought old ginseng as a supplement for your body...” Yan Liqiang said with a smile.

Qian Su seemed to have heard the amusing subject about ‘mingling with the people’ and ‘sharing and understanding their sentiments’ somewhere in his life before. Qian Su nearly spurted out the mouthful of tea he was drinking when he heard Yan Liqiang say that. Although he managed to swallow the tea in the end, he still choked on it and started coughing. Yan Liqiang hurriedly went over to him and patted him on his back, trying to relieve him.

“Are you alright, Uncle Qian?”

Qian Su, who coughed until his face was red, waved his hand and gestured for Yan Liqiang to go back to his seat.

“Although I’m not sure if you have made any progress in other areas, I can certainly tell that your talking skills have gotten sharper during your stay in Pingxi City for the past few months...”

“Hahaha, I still have a lot to learn from Uncle Qian!”

“I wonder how an honest man like your father made a son like you!” Qian Su shook his head and smiled wryly. Although the smile was helpless, there was also some comfort in it. “Tell me, how was your stay in Pingxi City over the past two or three months? Have you gotten used to the martial arts academy? I know a few people in Pingxi City. I can write you two letters if needed so you can pay them a visit with my letters when you return this time. In case anything happens, they can also look after you!”

“Everything’s been fine during my stay at Pingxi City. There’s no need to trouble you, Uncle Qian. Favors are finite, so there is no need to trouble Uncle Qian for now. I will come find you again if I need help!” Yan Liqiang had a bright smile on a face. It was impossible for anyone to see through the life-threatening crisis and hardships he had experienced in Pingxi City over the past two months from the looks on his face. If he told Qian Su about them, he figured Qian Su would be shocked.

“Hm, you are a wise one!” Qian Su laughed.

“But I have something else I wish for Uncle Qian to consider and examine for me...”

“What is it?” Qian Su put down his tea cup. The expression on his face grew serious. Based on Yan Liqiang’s personality, anything that required his help to consider and examine was definitely no small matter.

“Did Uncle Qian hear about the incident that occured last night in Pingxi City?”

“Ahem, ahem... well... what happened last night in Pingxi City?”

Huanglong County wasn’t really that far from Pingxi City, but wasn’t that close either, and so news traveled neither fast nor slow. However, Qian Su was having too much fun at one of the pleasure quarters in Huanglong County last night and had only returned to the Weaponsmiths Quarter this afternoon. Hence, he was totally clueless about the incident that had happened last night in Pingxi City.

“Well, I was having dinner with two friends from the martial arts academy last night in Pingxi City. Halfway through the dinner, I noticed a horse carriage passing by outside the window...” Yan Liqiang calmly explained everything that happened last night in plain language. Of course, what he said was the same as what others had said. To sum it up, everything was just a coincidence. He just happened to have a deeper impression of that Shatu man so he was able see through that Shatu man’s disguise, which ultimately led to a series of events...

“What? You’re saying that the son of the Prefectural Governor, Ye Tiancheng, was dragged out of his manor by the commoners in the city last night and got beaten to death in the middle of the street? And that the Military Governor arrived at the scene and left after saying a few words, leaving the rest to the Law Enforcement Office...?” At first, Qian Su’s expression was still quite relaxed when he heard the story. However, toward the end of the story, he was shocked. His eyes were wide open as he had abruptly and involuntarily stood up.

“Yes, that’s what happened...”

“Did you rush forward at that time?”

“Even if that Ye Xiao was the scum of all scums, I wouldn’t rush to the front. It is pointless to kick to a dog to its death, so I have only watched the scene with my other two friends from afar...”

“Glad to hear that...” Qian Su instantly breathed out a sigh of relief. “Was the Prefectural Governor in Pingxi City last night?”

“No, he wasn’t. I think he only returned early this morning...” Yan Liqiang then told the situation he saw this morning in the city to Qian Su. “I have a feeling that Pingxi City won’t be too peaceful, so I wish for Uncle Qian to help critically examine if there are any flaws in the story on my end, and also the possible changes in Pingxi City in the near future.”

Qian Su stood up with his hands clasped behind his back and paced back and forth around the room with a slight frown on his face. After pacing two rounds, he spoke. “If it really was as what you have said, then the incident last night had nothing much to do with you. You have nothing to worry about as long as you keep a low profile. Liqiang, you are a smart one, so you should know about what I’m trying to say. Although what you all did last night could be considered a contribution, you might make enemies and attract resentment. Try not to mention this incident from now on. In regards to the state of affairs in Pingxi City, that’s a tough question. The son of the Prefectural Governor had caused such a huge incident which could be either trivial or serious. I’m afraid that Ye Tiancheng’s days as the sitting Prefectural Governor are numbered...”

“Do you think the higher-ups will arrest him?” Yan Liqiang immediately asked.

“I’m afraid it will be quite unlikely for them to arrest him!” Qian Su shook his head with a grave expression. “You might not be quite aware of some of the situations, but Ye Tiancheng is actually someone from the Ye Clan of Gan Province. The Ye Clan is a wealthy and influential clan in Gan Province. The members of the clan have been officers for generations. Among Ye Tiancheng’s ancestors, the highest was the Provincial Governor of Gan Province. The Ye Clan is deeply rooted in Weiyuan County where they have connections to everything. I heard that if you line up the Ye Clan’s farms and ranches in Weiyuan County side by side, you can’t even walk to the other end in a day. The servants and guards of the Ye Clan amount to no less than several ten thousand. Ye Tianchang is one of the spokesmen for the Ye Clan. It’s not that easy to lay a finger on him. The Ye Clan will definitely find a way to keep him safe!”

“So no one can lay a finger on him?” Yan Liqiang asked with slight disappointment.

“Not exactly either. I heard the Provincial Governor, Lord Lei, has long been displeased with the Ye Clan...”

Yan Liqiang, who previously stayed at Weaponsmiths Quarter before, went upstairs to the same small courtyard he used to live in.

After the long chat with Qian Su, Yan Liqiang’s understanding of the situation of Gan Province’s bureaucracy and the Ye Clan had deepened. At the same time, he became increasingly certain that Ye Tiancheng most likely wouldn’t be able to keep his position as Pingxi’s Prefectural Governor. However, it was still unrealistic to completely overthrow Ye Tiancheng through this incident.

The Ye Clan of Gan Province was deeply rooted and complicated. Among Ye Tiancheng’s generation alone, there were many members from the Ye Clan working in the bureaucracy of Gan Province and every single one of them fared well. Yan Liqiang heard about the ‘Three Ye’ from Qian Su. The so-called ‘Three Ye’ were the three representatives among Ye Tiancheng’s generation from the Ye Clan of Gan Province, and they held the highest official rankings. Ye Tiancheng was the Prefectural Governor of Pingxi Prefecture, Ye Tianhao was the supreme judge of Gan Province’s Law Enforcement Office, and Ye Tianfa was the Military Governor of Weiyuan Prefecture. With the ‘Three Ye’ from the Ye Clan occupying the military, government, and judicial system, how could such a wealthy and influential clan possibly just let Ye Tiancheng take a fall in Pingxi Prefecture and be unable to get up from it again?

Not only that, according to Qian Su, the Ye Clan also seemed to have some connections to the current Grand Chancellor of the Great Han Empire. With such a powerful figurehead behind them, only a few people in all of Pingxi Prefecture dared to lay a finger on the Ye Clan.

It had only been less than five years since Lei Sitong assumed his position as the Provincial Governor of Gan Province. For a newly appointed Provincial Governor, it was inevitable for Lei Sitong to be scornful towards the Ye Clan. One was a powerful outsider while the other was a local tyrant. It was nearly impossible for any conflicts or friction to be absent between both parties.

According to Qian Su, the newly appointed Provincial Governor had a certain influential figure from the Great Han Empire’s Doyen Assembly behind him. However, Qian Su wasn’t too certain about this piece of information either because he had also heard about this from someone else; he didn’t really know the specifics of it. Although Qian Su’s position allowed him to catch wind of a lot of information about the bureaucracy, there was still a limit to how deep he could dig.

Even so, the information that Yan Liqiang got from Qian Su was sufficient. At the present stage, his ‘revenge’ would come to a perfect end as long as he got rid of Ye Tiancheng. He didn’t wish to further create more troubles either. After all, the main objective of his ‘revenge’ was self-preservation – for the sake of self-defense and also to protect his family and friends; he had completely achieved it now. Refusing to let Ye Tiancheng and the Ye Clan go would only put himself and the people around him once again into new danger, hence reversing the entire situation.

If it weren’t for Ye Xiao and Wang Haofei, perhaps he never would have crossed paths with Ye Tiancheng and the Ye Clan during his entire lifetime. Both parties were from two almost completely different worlds. As an ordinary commoner, he could care less about the Ye Clan or the people who had their backs. Now that Ye Xiao, Wang Haofei, and the rest were dead, the possibility of any conflicts or him crossing paths with the Ye Clan had vanished without a trace. As for the future, he would leave it until the time came.

Perhaps at this point in time, even the Pingxi Prefectural Governor, Ye Tiancheng, still felt wronged. No matter how hard he racked his brains, he probably couldn’t understand why so many things had happened in the matter of just a few days, which in turn suddenly set him on fire.

Tonight, Yan Liqiang slept soundly upstairs, undisturbed by any nightmares.

When he woke up early next morning and completed his morning regime, he went to have some breakfast in the Weaponsmiths Quarter’s dining hall, just like he did in the past. After that, he ascended the mountain alone and resumed practicing Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing at the same old spot.

In the past, Yan Liqiang had to make up some excuses to cultivate on the mountain. But now he no longer needed to make up any excuses because everyone in the Weaponsmiths Quarter knew that he was a student from the martial arts academy. Naturally, as a student from the martial arts academy, cultivation was top priority. Not only did the people of the Weaponsmiths Quarter find it natural to know that Yan Liqiang was going up the mountain to cultivate, a few of the managers and stewards even went out of their way to remind everyone to not wander up the mountain to avoid distracting Yan Liqiang from his cultivation. They informed everyone that the area near the summit would be Yan Liqiang’s private cultivation area for now.

This was the VIP treatment from the Weaponsmiths Quarter!

It was going to snow tomorrow. The weather on the 17th day of the eleventh lunar month had turned cold, especially on the mountain. Many plants had already gone dormant. The air temperature on the summit was much lower, causing one to shiver in the cold. Yan Liqiang came to the mountain summit dressed in just a light martial training garb which was easy to move around in. At the beginning, he could still slightly feel the chilliness. But after he started practicing Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing, he no longer felt the coldness in the air. The invisible Spiritual Qi between heaven and earth came pouring forth from the crown of his head before they started cleansing his five viscera and six bowels, as well as his muscles, tendons, meridians, and bones. His entire body was slowly heating up as a pleasingly warm sensation of soaking in a hot spring washed over him, making him unable to feel any coldness at all.

Yan Liqiang focused on his training wholeheartedly. His current goal now was to progress into a Martial Warrior with the fastest speed possible and thus complete the most important transformation in his life.

In one morning’s time, Yan Liqiang had practiced five rounds of Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing. By the end of his training, the muscles, tendons, and bones in his body were burning hot. Every muscle in his body undulated and trembled like dragons that were awakening. Every joint in his body felt as though they had lubricating oil applied to them – he felt more agile when he moved around. Yan Liqiang even felt as though he could control the movement of every vertebra in his backbone...

Based on his ‘past’ experience, Yan Liqiang knew that he could already touch the barrier of the Stretching Tendon and Extending Bone stage. If he kept going at this pace, within a week’s time at most, which was about another seventy or eighty rounds of Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing, he would be able to make it through the Stretching Tendon and Extending Bone stage and establish his dantian at the same time, thus progressing into a Martial Warrior.

After practicing a few more rounds of Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing and seeing that it was already lunchtime, Yan Liqiang descended the mountain to grab his lunch with everyone else.

After lunch, Yan Liqiang didn’t return to the mountain again. He played push-wrestling in the courtyard where the soldiers stayed with Zhou Yong and the rest instead. Less than an hour after the game started, a soldier who was standing guard at the entrance of Weaponsmiths Quarter ran into the courtyard.

“Young Master Yan, your father has also arrived at the Weaponsmiths Quarter!”

“Oh, my father is here? Where is he?” Yan Liqiang pretended to be surprised. In actuality, he knew already that Yan Dechang was going to turn up today.

“Yes, he just arrived at the entrance of the Weaponsmiths Quarter. The Quarter Master sent me to inform you!”

“Alright then, have fun brothers. I shall go meet my father.”

“Alright, go.” Zhou Yong and the rest smiled at him. “We’ll continue this again next time!”

After bidding farewell to the soldiers, Yan Liqiang jogged out of the courtyard where the soldiers stayed and made his way toward the Weaponsmiths Quarter’s entrance. In just the blink of an eye, he was once again reunited with Yan Dechang.

Yan Dechang was wearing a fur coat and appeared to be travel-worn. He had just entered the Weaponsmiths Quarter and was talking to Qian Su. Behind him was a guard with the surname Xu, whom the Yan Clan had just employed recently, pulling a horse carriage behind him.

“Father...” No matter how calm Yan Liqiang pretended to be, his nose couldn’t help but sting a little when he saw Yan Dechang’s weather-beaten face once again.

“Ah, Liqiang. Why are you here?” Yan Dechang had a look of surprise on his face. He didn’t expect to see Yan Liqiang here at all.

“Young Master...” The guard from Yan Clan who was pulling the horse carriage hurriedly bowed to Yan Liqiang.

Yan Liqiang kept a low profile when he was in Pingxi City, and he appeared to be just a plain and hardworking man. However, the Yan Clan in Qinghe County had changed a lot. It was now one of the top influential clans in the county. It was truly not overly excessive for the guard to address Yan Liqiang as ‘Young Master’.

“There was nothing much going on at the martial arts academy these two days, so I came to visit Uncle Qian. I was actually planning on returning home to visit you in another two days!” Yan Liqiang smiled. He took a deep breath and tried to hold back his tears which were about to fall. “Oh right, why are you here too, Father?!”

“Hahaha, don’t tell Liqiang first, Senior Martial Brother. Let him have a guess...” Qian Su interrupted them with a smile.

Yan Liqiang smiled and glanced at the horse carriage. “I’m guessing that Uncle Qian must have found some business for our blacksmith store back at home and you are here to deliver the first batch of goods today, Father. Don’t tell me someone has taken a liking to the kukri knife I left behind...”

Qian Su and Yan Dechang exchanged looks with each other. Both of them didn’t expect Yan Liqiang to readily make a guess.

“Forget it, I admit defeat. I really wonder how you brought Liqiang up, Senior Martial Brother...” Qian Su shook his head and sighed.

An hour hadn’t even passed upon Yan Dechang’s arrival at the Weaponsmiths Quarter when he received news from one of Qian Su’s messengers. The officer who ordered a hundred ‘Yan Curved Knives’ from them had arrived hastily at the Weaponsmiths Quarter on their rhinodrake steeds with a couple of his attendants and subordinates in tow.

Yan Liqiang’s family’s big client was the Yingyang Commandant Gong Tieshan, the head general of the 2,000 troops stationed at Huanglong County. The army camp that Gong Tieshan commanded was known as the Gong Barracks, which ranked amongst the armed forces of the Pingxi Prefecture Military Governor’s Office. According to the Great Han Empire’s military regulations, the title of the forces that ranked higher than a battalion could be named after the head officer.

Qian Su was the Quarter Master of the Weaponsmiths Quarter, and his military rank was of the Feiyang Commandant. Gong Tieshan was the head general of the Gong Barracks. Although they shared the same rank as commandant officers, his military rank was still higher than Qian Su’s by a level. In a county like Huanglong County, both Qian Su and Gong Tieshan could be counted as leading figures in the military. They shared a good relationship with one another. A few days ago, after Qian Su obtained a kukri knife that Yan Liqiang made from Yan Dechang, Gong Tieshan immediately noticed it when he randomly visited the Weaponsmiths Quarter. Gong Tieshan tried it out and was incredibly interested in it. Once he inquired where the kukri knife had come from, he ordered a hundred of them from Yan Blades without a moment’s hesitation.

In regards to Gong Tieshan’s arrival, no matter if it was either Qian Su or Yan Liqiang, none of them dared to neglect him. The moment Gong Tieshan arrived at the entrance of the Weaponsmiths Quarter on his rhinodrake steeds with his subordinates trailing behind him, Qian Su, Yan Dechang, and Yan Liqiang personally waited for his arrival to respectfully welcome him at the gates.

Gong Tieshan had a strong build and was two meters tall. His body was about twice as wide as Yan Liqiang’s, so when he rode on the rhinodrake steed, he was literally akin to a moving mountain. With the build he had, along with his thick black beard and the soft scales armor on his body, nobody dared to be contemptuous to him since he seriously appeared as though he had the formidable prowess of a martial practitioner from afar.

If it wasn’t a valiant rhinodrake steed and was an ordinary horse instead, the steed would not be able to move anymore if Gong Tieshan was sitting on it.

About ten personal troops on their rhinodrake steeds stood in two orderly lines behind Gong Tieshan. Five of his close subordinates each carried bows on their backs while the others carried blades. Their armor were bright and distinct; they looked extremely exuberant.

When he saw these troops charging over on their rhinodrake steeds, Yan Liqiang turned to cast a meaningful glance at Qian Su, thinking to himself that it was as what Uncle Qian had mentioned earlier. This Commandant Gong was indeed a man of panache and pride as an ordinary commandant would never put on such a show when going about in a county. The most a commandant would ever bring were about four to five men and that was enough. But with Commandant Gong, it was as though he was afraid that nobody would know he was the general of the Gong Barracks.

Qian Su gave a light smile as he returned Yan Liqiang’s glance.

The eleven men in this party came galloping in on their horses like thunder, they rushed to the main gates of the Weaponsmiths Quarter without rest before pulling the reins of their rhinodrake steeds. The eleven rhinodrake steeds raised their front hooves as they let out a unanimous long cry, their bodies seemingly standing straight at once...

“Hahaha! Old Brother Qian! Are the goods finally here? I have been waiting anxiously for them...” Gong Tieshan laughed out heartily. Although his figure was tall and burly, he was incredibly agile. Before the rhinodrake steed’s front hooves had touched the ground, he gently pressed on the back of the steed with his palm. With a lift of his leg, his entire being had already lightly leapt down from the rhinodrake steed’s back, landing before Yan Liqiang and the rest.

“Yeap! They have just arrived. How could we simply dare to allow Lord Gong to wait? Hahaha...” Qian Su also emitted a hearty laugh. Then, he pointed at Yan Dechang. “Let me introduce this man to Lord Gong, this is my senior brother, Manager Yan. The blade that Lord Gong has taken a fancy to is forged from Manager Yan’s blacksmith workshop!”

It was probably Yan Dechang’s first time being introduced as a manager by others, so he was slightly embarrassed. “Yan Dechang greets Lord Gong...”

“The ‘Yan Curved Knife’ that Manager Yan made is extraordinary and it has a style of its own. Not bad. Not bad...” laughed Gong Tieshan as he exchanged conventional greetings with Yan Dechang.

Yan Liqiang was just standing next to Yan Dechang. Probably because Yan Liqiang was too young and didn’t seem like any important figure, Gong Tieshan only shot a light glance at him as he conversed with Yan Dechang. Then, he treated Yan Liqiang as though he were invisible.

“Ahem...ahem... Lord Gong, this is Yan Liqiang, Manager Yan’s son and also my nephew.” Having seen it to this point, Qian Su quickly proceeded to introduce Yan Liqiang to Gong Tieshan.

“Greetings, Lord Gong...” Yan Liqiang stepped forth neither haughtily or humbly and paid his respects to Gong Tieshan.

Although Gong Tieshan’s status was higher than the rest on site, Yan Liqiang had already gone through so much in Pingxi City and he even dared to go and fight against the Prefectural Governor. Thus, although he was respectful towards a Yingyang Commandant, he wasn’t in the least bit anxious at all. So when he paid his respects to Gong Tieshan at this moment, he had the air of an overbearing presence that was not normal for an ordinary young man.

Yan Liqiang’s bearing made Gong Tieshan earnestly glance at him twice. Afterwards, he furrowed his brows slightly, seeming to have recalled something, “Wait...Yan Liqiang... I think I have heard of this name before...” After thinking deeply for a few seconds in all seriousness, Gong Tieshan suddenly slapped his hands together. “Right! That young man in the rumors who received the teachings of a deity in his dreams! He was the one who imparted the knowledge of performing moxibustion on the navel to save people who drowned a few months ago in Huanglong County! He was known as Yan Liqiang as well!”

“Hahaha! It’s great that Lord Gong still remembers!” Qian Su smiled. “My nephew is quite skillful. He only stayed at Huanglong County a couple of months ago for a few days and he already left behind a method to save people who have drowned. After he returned to Qinghe County, he nabbed first place among the top three in the Martial Arts County Trial Examination. Now he’s a student at the Pingxi Prefecture Martial Arts Academy. As a matter of fact, two days ago, Liqiang discovered that his family was forging your goods so he rushed to the Weaponsmiths Quarter from Pingxi City without any rest, weary from the journey. He insisted to come here to receive Lord Gong. He is thankful to Lord Gong for doing business with them. If there’s a chance in the future, Lord Gong must take good care of my nephew... ”

If just ordinary fold came to welcome Gong Tieshan, Gong Tieshan naturally wouldn’t take notice of it. But this was the rumored young man who had received strange teachings from a deity in his dreams as well as nabbing first place in the Martial Arts County Trial Examination of Qinghe County. He also had taken the trouble to specifically run all the way from Pingxi City to Huanglong County to ‘welcome’ him. The honor he had given him was too great.

After he listened to Qian Su, as expected, Gong Tieshan instantly felt important. He took another look at Yan Liqiang, and his eyes immediately turned cordial and amiable by ten folds. “Liqiang is so young and has shown such potential. He will definitely have a promising future. Liqiang, if you have anything you need Uncle’s assistance with in the future, find me at all costs...”

“Thank you, Lord Gong...”

“Hahaha. Go! Let’s make a move! Let’s all head in and see the goods...” Gong Tieshan laughed as he walked towards the Weaponsmiths Quarter. Qian Su, Yan Liqiang, and his father naturally trailed after him.

Yan Dechang had delivered a total of more than a hundred ‘Yan Curved Knives’ to the Weaponsmiths Quarter. Apart from the one hundred blades that Gong Tieshan ordered, there were a couple left. Yan Dechang had already used them as gifts and had gifted them to Zhou Yong and the rest who had come to the Yan Residence to help out last time. Upon receiving Yan Dechang’s kukri knife, Zhou Yong and the others were ecstatic towards them and was extremely happy.

One hundred kukri knives were packed inside a simple wooden crate with straws separating a few of the layers. Each and every single one of the kukri knives was sheathed with a leather scabbard, which looked both simple and stylish. Those wooden crates were placed inside the drawing room where Qian Su stayed. The four of them went straight ahead to Qian Su’s quarters.

When they arrived, Gong Tieshan opened up a wooden crate at random and took out a kukri knife. He removed the knife from the scabbard, examining the kukri knife’s quality and craftsmanship. He weighed the knife in his hands, nodding his head in approval after brandishing the knife in the air. He then sheathed the kukri knife and remarked, “Not bad, not bad! This is definitely made from high-grade well-tempered steel. The craftsmanship is exquisite...”

“There’s no doubt about it. The knives Lord Gong wanted were all crafted under my senior brother’s supervision. None of them dared to be careless and sloppy in their work!” Qian Su commented at the side.

“How much do these cost?” Gong Tieshan was incredibly satisfied, so he wanted to pay straight away.

Yan Dechang wanted to voice out a price but Yan Liqiang shot a glance at him. In the end, he smiled and said, “My father once told me that Lord Gong’s acknowledgment of the blade we forged is already the greatest trust and encouragement towards the Yan Clan. These aren’t something that can be exchanged with a large sum of money. So, as for these kukri knives of the Yan Clan, we will not accept even a single candareen. Everything will be gifted to Lord Gong as a thank you to Lord Gong for supporting us!”

The moment Yan Liqiang spoke, Yan Dechang kept silent, appearing to have agreed tacitly as well. Instead, Qian Su and Gong Tieshan were taken aback by his words.

“How can I? The price of these one hundred kukri knives is not exactly a small sum...” replied Gong Tieshan promptly.

“Everyone says that it’s hard to find a close friend in the world. To these blades, Lord Gong is their most intimate friend. As they say, rouge and powder are bestowed upon a beautiful woman while the treasured blade is bestowed upon a hero. This small sum of money amounts to nothing. But when it comes to Lord Gong’s acknowledgment and insight, how could that be bought with money?”

“Good. Good. Good...” Gong Tieshan erupted into laughter, promptly saying ‘good’ three times. His entire being was beaming with redness as he strut about, pleased with himself. “Since Liqiang put it this way, I will accept your token of kindness.”

“That should be the case. That should be the case. This is originally my senior brother and Liqiang’s token of appreciation. It’s truly hard to find a close, intimate friend. Fortunately, Lord Gong is a man who understands blades. Just one glance and you are able to determine the profound wonders of this blade. Back then, when I first saw this blade, apart from finding it to be strange, I wasn’t able to sense a good thing about this blade!” Recovering from his senses, Qian Su also began to ‘help’ Liqiang out at the side.

“Of course...” Gong Tieshan revealed a proud look on his face. “Although this blade is strange, as long as it falls into the hands of those who understand blades, they would be able to identify the mysteriousness behind this blade. When cutting down with this blade, we can use a less energy by drawing support from the blade’s change in power to attain a greater, formidable might. This blade is indeed amazing. I have experienced thousands and hundreds of blades and never have I ever came across such an ingenious kukri knife. Comparing this with the Shatu men’s kukri knife, theirs are not worth mentioning at all. By the way, I wanted to ask this before, how did Manager Yan think of forging such an ingenious kukri knife?”

After listening to Gong Tieshan’s question, Yan Dechang, who wasn’t good at conversations, hesitated for a while. He cast a glance at Yan Liqiang before he finally said, “I see Lord Gong is well-informed. I’m not really the one who came up with these kukri knives. It was my son, Liqiang, who designed the concept of these knives. I only followed the design Liqiang drew and forged them into a real thing...”

“Ah, so it was Liqiang who came up with the kukri knives?”

Gong Tieshan was truly shocked. He wasn’t shocked when he knew Yan Liqiang was the youngster who saved those drowned people, nor was he appalled when he knew Yan Liqiang ranked first amongst the top three for the Martial Arts County Trial Exam at Qinghe County. However, when he heard that Yan Liqiang was able to invent such a marvelous weapon at such a young age, he was baffled. This was because from his perspective, those who were able to invent and create these sorts of knives definitely had to have invested their time in weaponry craftsmanship for dozens of years, if not a genius in the art of blades. At the same time, they were also first-class masters who possessed exceptional knowledge about blades. However, he did not expect for Yan Liqiang to be the ‘inventor’ of these kukri knives.

He shifted his scrutinizing gaze at Yan Liqiang and asked, “Could it be that Liqiang has learned the way of the blades?”

“I haven’t learned how to wield a blade, I’m learning how to wield spears!” Yan Liqiang calmly replied.

“Then how did you even think of designing this kind of kukri knife?”

Aside from Gong Tieshan, Qian Su was also somewhat curious about this question. Qian Su knew beforehand that Yan Liqiang had created this blade, but he didn’t know how he was able to create such an ingenious and wonderful knife in the first place.

Yan Liqiang smiled, “Funnily enough, it was during the past few months when I was eating a whole roasted lamb. At that time, a few big brothers from the Weaponsmiths Quarter sliced a roasted mutton leg for me, and when I held the leg with my hand by pinching the hoof, I felt a bizarre sense of inertia and strength as I swung the leg – it felt smooth. At that moment, I thought to myself about forging such a blade like the mutton leg, which I can use the weight and the structure of the blade itself to achieve a greater power. After that, I referenced the mutton leg’s model and designed this knife...”

His words were the very definition of ‘selling dog meat under the guise of a sheep’s head’. Just because the stature of a dog and a lamb were similar, there wasn’t much difference between the shape of a dog’s leg and mutton’s leg. Yan Liqiang had explained the design of the kukri knife based on the mutton leg instead of a dog leg, and he had connected his inspiration to the process of discovering and creating the kukri knife to the mutton leg he had eaten. There wasn’t a single flaw or mistake to nitpick from his explanation. More importantly, he really did have mutton leg at the Weaponsmiths Quarter a few months ago. Qian Su could attest to that.

Gong Tieshan was silenced by Yan Liqiang’s words for half a day. In the end, he ferociously slapped his own thighs and said with overbearing emotion, “F*ck. I have eaten mutton legs for dozens of years. Countless people have eaten a myriad of mutton legs for hundreds and thousands of years. Why hasn’t anyone thought of it yet?”

...

Gong Tieshan continued to stay in the Weaponsmiths Quarter until nightfall. He had a meal with Yan Liqiang and the other two, and he consumed quite a lot of wine as well. It wasn’t until he had a little bit too much that he finally returned to the Gong Barracks under the escort of a group of guards. Meanwhile, the one hundred Yan Curved Knives that Yan Liqiang and his father had given to him as a gift had already been entrusted to Qian Su to handle. He was tasked to call a few people to pack them inside the carriage and make the deliveries to the barracks.

Just when Gong Tieshan was about to leave, he grabbed Yan Liqiang’s hand and addressed him as his nephew directly, prompting Yan Liqiang to address him as Uncle Gong in return.

...

After sending Gong Tieshan off, Yan Liqiang, Qian Su, and Yan Dechang then returned to the living room in Qian Su’s courtyard.

“Liqiang, those one hundred kukri knives were forged with great effort during these past few months in our workshop. If we had sold them off, they would have raked in at least four hundred or so taels of silver. Why were you so generous to give them away as you pleased?”

The reason Yan Dechang came to deliver those kukri knives with delight was because he thought he could earn a sum of money. However, he didn’t expect Yan Liqiang to give away all those knives all at once. Those kukri knives costed a great deal. Though Yan Dechang didn’t say anything at that moment, he still felt pain in his heart.

“Father, drink some water and calm down...” Yan Liqiang had a smile on his face as he poured a cup of water for Yan Dechang. He then stood behind Yan Dechang and gave him a shoulder massage like a good son, “Naturally, I have my own reasons for giving away those kukri knives to Commandant Gong. Father, don’t worry. Commandant Gong will definitely give us the opportunity to earn back the sum of money by tenfold or even a hundredfold before long.”

“How is that possible?” Yan Dechang turned to look at him with a certain gaze of disbelief.

“Then tell me, Father. What is the purpose of our family’s business right now?”

“Of course, it’s for the sake of earning money!” Yan Dechang spontaneously said.

“Earning money isn’t wrong. But Father, tell me, how do you earn that money...”

“Well...” Yan Dechang was stunned. He hadn’t really given a careful thought to this question before.

“Father, if you don’t want to say it, then I will say it. If it’s for the sake of providing for the family and making a fortune by conducting an ordinary business, then you will have to depend on your skills to earn money. The skill in terms of business will be the ability to acquire something at a low price and sell at a high price. Regardless of what you are going to sell, the price of selling the item should exceed its original cost. The difference between these two would be the profit. With the presence of profit, one will be able to earn money...”

“Yes, this is the principle of doing business!” Yan Dechang nodded.

“Those who conduct businesses all have the desire to earn money. But at the end of it, at the highest level of conducting business, it is not for the sake of earning money!” Yan Liqiang smiled and continued to loosen Yan Dechang’s shoulders.

“If earning money isn’t the highest level of conducting a business, then what is?” Even Qian Su who was just drinking tea to remedy his hangover at the side couldn’t resist asking him this question, much less Yan Dechang himself.

“Earning people’s trust!” Yan Liqiang said those three words with a resolute tone. With glistening eyes, he continued, “As long as we earn their trust, making money will easily be accomplished. If we aren’t able to earn their trust, even if we do rake in a lot of money, that doesn’t necessarily equate to a good thing. In fact, that might attract misfortune instead. Just like our family now – are we really short on money? Of course not. The fields and properties that our family owns in town are sufficient for us both to live our lives until old age without worrying about food or clothes, provided that the situation remains unchanged. However, that’s all there is. If something happens then, how many of those properties and fields will be useful for us? Just like the Hong Clan in the past, they were flourishing in the prospect of wealth in normal times, but when something did happen – albeit just King Cobra alone – it was enough to make the entire Hong Clan disappear from the town. Father, do you want us to end up like the Hong Clan?”

This was a profound perception that Yan Liqiang had acquired through his previous experience. If he hadn’t experienced the extreme pain from the incident from last time, Yan Liqiang would have never been able to think of such things. The Yan Clan that had been thriving on the ascendant suddenly became the second Hong Clan just because of the Prefectural Governor’s words. They were instantly wiped out. Those properties were nothing in the face of power and authority. Sometimes, money was useless no matter how much wealth was accumulated.

It was also at that moment that Yan Liqiang truly understood why many people said that the world’s wealthiest Rothschild family pursued influence instead of wealth when their master came to China during that time. It was their influence that had protected the world’s wealthiest family, not wealth itself. Money was just a projection that came with the family’s influence.

Besides his own martial power that had the capability to protect the Yan Clan, the influence that the Yan Clan possesses should be able to protect them as well. Moreover, the one fact he couldn’t deny was that other than the meager influence that the Yan Clan currently had over Liuhe Town, the Yan Clan was completely out of the rankings outside of Liuhe Town, even in Qinghe County. The clan was just a minor landowner.

This was why Yan Liqiang currently needed to build up the Yan Clan’s influence one step at a time after having dealt with the threats of Ye Xiao and the others. They had to learn how to earn people’s trust.

A few hundred taels of silver were nothing. If money were to be discussed seriously, the sum of wealth Yan Liqiang had obtained from the Shatu people was more than enough for him and his father to use for ten lifetimes. However, just having wealth and nothing else wouldn’t work.

As for Yan Liqiang’s question, Yan Dechang instinctively shook his head and said, “Of course not!”

“That’s right. This is why we should stress on being methodical when conducting business if we want our family to survive for a long time. Our number one priority is to earn people’s trust, followed by earning money. As long as we can earn their trust, then the money will naturally flow in. Moreover, we will be able to sustain ourselves...”

Yan Dechang started to understand his words a bit, “You gave those kukri knives to Commandant Gong just to earn his trust?”

“Yes. Father, just trust my insights. Based on Commandant Gong’s behavior toward others, as long as we show him a great amount of respect today, not only are we able to establish our relationship and become friends, Commandant Gong will definitely give us a bigger surprise in the future. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been embarrassed to look for us. Just wait and see...” Yan Liqiang said confidently. This was also part of the experience he had as a person who had lived two lives.

With a son like this, what else could Yan Dechang say? Yan Dechang was thoroughly convinced by Yan Liqiang’s words. His words were completely clear and he didn’t need to ache for those one hundred kukri knives anymore. “Alright, we will do what you want, Liqiang. Father will listen to you from now on!”

Aside from Yan Dechang, even Qian Su who was just beside him was truly convinced as well when he heard those words. A youth just less than fifteen years of age was able to say that the highest level of conducting a business was to earn people’s trust instead of earning money. Qian Su wondered to himself and concluded that he had truly never seen someone like this before. Aside from the fact that he was just a youth, even those people who had loitered in the markets until the age of hundred might not possess such comprehension to say those words.

“Liqiang, Uncle Qian has been living a luxurious life and has been spending money quite extravagantly. I even have to go around and prepare everything at any given time too. Even if I am able to reap a little more while assuming the position of a Quarter Master, it’s really not enough for me to spend the money. On top of that, I have to take care of so many people in the Weaponsmiths Quarter in terms of their food, their livelihoods, and the basic necessities in life. Each of them looks up to me. It’s not really that great to be a Quarter Master!” Qian Su smiled at Yan Liqiang with his squinted eyes. He then continued half-genuinely, “So Liqiang, since you were able to speak of the principles of business so impressively, could you show Uncle Qian a way to make money and allow everyone in the Weaponsmiths Quarter to gain some benefits?”

“Does the Military Governor’s Office allow the Weaponsmiths Quarter to earn money by themselves?” Yan Liqiang asked Yan Dechang a question.

“As long as it doesn’t affect the ordnance production or violate the laws and discipline in terms of criminal activity, our Weaponsmiths Quarter is able to do whatever we want!”

Yan Liqiang smiled, “I have a way of earning money here. However, this method is too easy. There aren’t many people in the Weaponsmiths Quarter. Even if I put a city or mountain of gold or silver in this place, the Weaponsmiths Quarter will never be able to use it. If you want to earn some more money, I suggest we join hands with Lu Clan and earn it together!”

“What kind of method easily earns you money?” Qian Su asked in disbelief.

“If I sell soil at the same price as coal, or perhaps a bit more than coal, what do you think of this method of earning money, Uncle Qian?”

Slightly shocked from the proposition, Qian Su then burst into laughter, “Liqiang, are you joking with me? If soil can be sold as expensive as coal, then I can simply find a hill and dig one mound of soil. By then, I will be able to acquire a mountain of gold or silver. This is nothing more than the method of turning stones into gold by the immortals in the legends, right...?”

Yan Liqiang said nothing, but he smiled as he looked at Qian Su, “Ahem... ahem... Perhaps Uncle Qian has forgotten about how I used moxibustion on the belly button to save those drowned people in the past? I had a dream for the past few days where I met that old man with the white beard again. He told me of a method of how I can sell soil for the same price as coal...”

The smile on Qian Su’s face instantly went stiff...

That’s right. The method Yan Liqiang mentioned that could sell soil as expensive as coal was known as the honeycomb briquette.

When he rushed to the Weaponsmiths Quarter and saw Qian Su talking about coal in the coalyard, he had already thought of the honeycomb briquette.

In this era, anyone who had truly burned coal in the fire stove knew that coal buyers loved to buy large pieces of coal. This was due to the fact that coal fragments weren’t easy to burn in a traditional stove and were difficult to ignite. Those coal fragments were like sand. If more were placed in the stove, there was even a chance that they could also extinguish the flames burning the firewood, which was why coal fragments were difficult to sell. Those small coal fragments would be sold together with the larger pieces whenever people came to buy them. Due to the low coal supply in Pingxi Prefecture, the quality of the coal imported by the Weaponsmiths Quarter was poor. Those small coal bits of that were difficult to burn occupied quite a large portion of the total amount.

Those coal fragments which were difficult to burn were considered as a problem to others. However, to Yan Liqiang, these coal fragments were practically the best type of raw material needed to make honeycomb briquettes.

The most traditional recipe to make honeycomb briquettes consisted of a mixture of 80% coal powder and 20% yellow soil in addition to a small amount of lime. Then, a small amount of water would be added. A metal mold to make the honeycomb briquette would also need to be prepared beforehand.

Putting the coal aside, yellow soil covered the mountains and plains so they were completely free of charge. Anyone could dig as they wished. On top of that, lime was very inexpensive and was readily available. Water wasn’t an issue either. As for the metal mold used to mold honeycomb briquettes, that wasn’t difficult to get as well. Regardless of whether it was at Yan Liqiang’s residence or the weaponry barracks, it forging a couple of metal molds was an easy feat.

Coal fragments and coal powder were cheaper than coals themselves. After they were mixed in with the yellow soil to make honeycomb briquettes, selling the honeycomb briquettes which were similar in weight at the same price as ordinary coals could also be considered a business that turned yellow soil into gold. There would be a huge influx of profits. In actuality, once they were produced for real, the honeycomb briquettes would at least sold at a slightly higher price than the coals. Then the profit that ensued would be shocking.

Yan Liqiang requested for a charcoal coal and a wooden board from Qian Su. Then he drew clear diagrams of the honeycomb briquettes and the iron molds used to make them while explaining so both of them could get a clear picture.

Qian Su and Yan Dechang had never seen honeycomb briquettes before and they stared at the diagrams Yan Liqiang that had drawn on the drawing board with their mouths agape, unable to close them back up again. Both of them were blacksmiths, hence burning furnaces were common things for them. As soon as both of them saw what the honeycomb briquettes looked like, they instantly knew exactly where the beauty was.

Qian Su excitedly slapped on his thighs. “Marvellous! Marvellous indeed! The holes in these charcoal briquettes will naturally allow airflow, therefore allowing the flames to burn brightly even without shifting the charcoals around. These air holes in the design are simply amazing...!”

“That’s right! When burning charcoal or coal in a furnace, if the flame in the furnace is not burning bright enough, someone will need to shift the charcoals around to leave some holes in the burning pile to allow airflow so that the flame can burn brighter, and also to release the gas from the bottom of the furnace. If these charcoal briquettes have air holes in them, then basically no one will need to watch over the flames after they are lit!” Yan Dechang nodded while speaking. At the same time, he also gave Yan Liqiang a bewildered look. As Yan Liqiang’s father, even he thought that it was getting difficult to read Yan Liqiang. Could it really be that Yan Liqiang had learned all this from the deity he dreamed of when he slept?

In the past, Yan Dechang never really took Yan Liqiang’s explanations seriously. But now, he was swayed. Thinking up to this point, Yan Dechang asked a question when he was looking at Yan Liqiang’s diagrams. “Liqiang, what did you call this coal you made again?”

“This coal is called...” Yan Liqiang only uttered these four words.

“Hold on, let me have a guess...” Yan Liqiang was interrupted by Qian Su before he could even say ‘the honeycomb briquettes’. He studied the diagrams that Yan Liqiang had drawn with a serious expression at the side. His eyebrows were tightly knitted together before they suddenly loosened again. “Are these called the lotus root briquettes? Look at these air holes, don’t they look like the intersections of lotus roots?”

Lotus root? Yan Liqiang blinked, then took another look at the honeycomb briquettes he drew again. Qian Su was not wrong at all for saying that it looked similar to a lotus root.

“Did I get it right, Liqiang?”

“Indeed, it is called the lotus root briquette! Uncle Qian’s great observation skills have really impressed Liqiang! ” Yan Liqiang exclaimed seriously and gave Qian Su a thumbs up.

“Of course. The name of the things Liqiang learned from some deity in your dream must be something magical...!” Qian Su stroked his beard and seemed to be rather proud of himself.

“What is your opinion on this business, Uncle Qian?”

“If the soot can still burn with yellow soil mixed in it, then this business will be raking in endless cash!” The expression on Qian Su’s face gradually grew serious as he seemed to be in deep thought. “This business model is too big for the Weaponsmiths Quarter to handle alone. Beside, this idea you proposed would be a waste if it were handled solely by the Weaponsmiths Quarter. There are too many people and too many pairs of eyes here. The moment this thing is produced, others will know how to make them with just a glance before much profit can even be earned. The secret will not be kept for long and someone will be able to immediately make copies of it. The more people make imitations of these, the price of these lotus root briquettes will fall and the profit will be less. This kind of thing should be able to rake in a lot of profit in cities like Pingxi City where the sales volume will be high. If you can completely secure and meet the supply demands of the lotus root briquettes to Pingxi City, you will most likely be rolling in the dough. If you are really going to make this happen, it will be best for you to find another one or two capable partners to invest in this business so that you can cover all of Pingxi City...” Speaking up to this point, realization finally dawned on Qian Su when he saw Yan Liqiang smiling without saying anything. He started laughing loudly when he guessed Yan Liqiang’s thoughts and shook his head while pointing at Yan Liqiang. “You really got me there, Liqiang! Fine, I will go with you together tomorrow...”

Yan Liqiang laughed. “Thank you, Uncle Qian. But this is not just a matter of borrowing your name and reputation, I will also be relying on your assistance. My father’s share and your share will be counted together. Regardless of how many shares on our side ends up with after negotiations, both of you shall split it equally. If we can make this happen, then Uncle Qian can live in the Pleasure Fragrance Court for the whole year round...”

“Live in the Pleasure Fragrance Court every day? How much longer can my old bones still live on...?” Qian Su laughed.

“What are both of you talking about? I’m getting lost...” Yan Dechang looked at Qian Su from the side, then at Yan Liqiang with a confused look on his face, unable to understand what both of them were going on about.

“Liqiang is thinking of roping in the Lu Clan first...” Qian Su explained.

“Liqiang, are you really thinking of doing this business? I can’t help but feel that it’s impractical to make it this big all at once...” Yan Dechang voiced out his concerns.

“Rest assured, Father. I know the limits. Uncle Qian and I will only be proposing the business idea and investing in the secret of the lotus root briquettes. We won’t be making that many financial investments, and therefore the shares we get will not be huge. The first thing we need to do is make a few more friends. We need to earn some trust first...”

Upon hearing Yan Liqiang’s explanation, Yan Dechang naturally had nothing much to say.

...

The next day, it started snowing heavily. In the midst of the fluttering snowflakes, Yan Dechang left the Weaponsmiths Quarter on a horse carriage for Qinghe County. As for Yan Liqiang and Qian Su, both of them made their way to the Lu Residence on their rhinodrake steeds after lunch...

When they were halfway to the Lu Residence, tremors on the ground could be heard coming from the hill with three forked roads ahead of them. From the sounds of it, there were at least more than a hundred people galloping powerfully on their steeds.

Yan Liqiang and Qian Su who were chatting with each other exchanged looks, then slowed down the speed of their steeds to a halt at the roadside.

It was extremely scary to have so many rhinodrake steeds running on the road altogether. It was just like having a lot of people speeding in their cars on the highways. If one accidentally bumped into another directly or if someone didn’t have good control over their steed due to a lack of skill, it might lead to a life-threatening situation if someone fell onto the ground at this time. Hence, both of them were trying to be careful.

After the space of a few breaths, a huge group of cavalries fully armed with bows and spears came into view from the other side of the hill. They didn’t even pay attention to Yan Liqiang and Qian Su as they rode on to the other fork in the road after making a turn at the hill with murderous intent...

“Oh, these are the elite cavalry units from Pingxi City. Why are they in such a hurry to Huanglong County?” Yan Liqiang exclaimed in shock to Qian Su.

Looking in the direction where the cavalries sped off to, Qian Su frowned. “Let’s go, we’ll talk once we arrive at the Lu Residence...”

“Alright...”

Both of them pressed onwards. Little did they expect that a few minutes later, they’d see another huge group of riders on road. There were no less than forty of fifty of them, each wearing a cape and a red headscarf as they waved their whips about in the snow as they charged on their rhinodrake steeds, seemingly chasing after those cavalries from before...

It was obvious from the way they dressed that this group of riders were all Wanderers.

Something terrible had happened. Something bad must have happened...

Yan Liqiang and Qian Su exchanged glances with each other before coming to an immediate stop.

“Uncle Qian, look...” Yan Liqiang cried out.

“Move. Let’s go check it out, then we’ll go to the Lu Residence...” Qian Su promptly turned his steed around.

“Alright...”

Both of them instantly gave their steeds’ abdomens a tight squeeze before giving chase to the flock of Wanderers....

A few minutes ago, Yan Liqiang and Qian Su had just turned into the junction adjacent to the mountain slope. A few minutes later, both of them were back at the junction again after following the Wanderers riding on their steeds from a distance.

The direction that the group of Wanderers was heading towards was the same as the cavalries just now.

It had only begun to snow today. The weather was already cold to begin with. The moment their rhinodrake steeds began to pick up the pace, their faces were blasted with the cold harsh wind and snow fluttered into their faces as well. It felt extremely painful; as though their faces were cut by knives. Yan Liqiang and Qian Su pulled up their leather collars to cover their faces while bending down and half-laying on the backs of their steeds as they squinched their eyes. It was only when their upper bodies were burrowed into the warm necks of their rhinodrake steeds that they were brave enough to propel their steeds to move forward and catch up in time.

The Wanderers seemed to have noticed Yan Liqiang and Qian Su following them from behind on their steeds. Two of them turned back to look at them, but they didn’t seem to mind at all.

“Uncle Qian, where does this path lead to?”

Yan Liqiang asked Qian Su through a muffled voice when they turned to the junction on their rhinodrake steeds.

“This path can lead to many places. There are two more intersections up ahead. We will only know more if we get there...”

Yan Liqiang stopped talking and continued to follow closely from behind. After a few minutes, the Wanderers in front turned toward to the other two directions at the two intersections, instantly revealing the path ahead. There was a town just as large as the Lu Residence ahead of the path as well. Yan Liqiang could also see a tall and grandiose fortress that looked like a castle in the middle of that town from afar.

“The Wang Fortress, they are going toward the Wang Fortress...” Qian Su finally spoke.

Yan Liqiang felt a pang in his heart. This was the Wang Fortress, which was Wang Haofei’s home. The Wang Clan had the foundation that was sufficient enough to stand on equal footing with the Lu Clan in Huanglong Country.

Why would the elite cavalries from Pingxi City and those Wanderers rush toward the Wang Fortress? Could it be...

An implausible guess emerged from Yan Liqiang’s mind in an instant.

However, the moment that thought appeared, Yan Liqiang immediately denied it.

It was impossible. There were so many people inside the Wang Fortress. How could Ye Tiancheng do this? This was simply too evil. If that was truly the case, then a countless number of innocent people would be dragged into this matter, or perhaps it was due to other reasons...

Just when Yan Liqiang was having those thoughts, a layer of black smoke was already rising from the direction of the Wang Fortress.

The black smoke caused by the fire of some building was quite an unpleasant sight in this kind of weather.

After following those Wanderers for a few moments, Qian Su and Yan Liqiang managed to arrive outside the Wang Fortress.

Twenty or so cavalries stood guard in front of the path toward the Wang Fortress with their blades unsheathed and their arrows strung to their bowstrings. When those Wanderers rushed into the fortress, the cavalries did not stop them. Yan Liqiang saw that one of the Wanderers stopped for a while when he passed by those cavalries and pointed in his and Qian Su’s direction while whispering a few words to the troops. Five of the cavalries were already coming toward Yan Liqiang and Qian Su without waiting for both of them to come over.

“Are you two from the Wang Fortress...” The five cavalries immediately surrounded Yan Liqiang and Qian Su as soon as they rushed over to them. They stared at them closely with gazes as sharp as blades. Each of them had a weapon in their hand, prepared to attack at any moment as if they would kill Yan Liqiang and Qian Su on the spot if they made one slight suspicious move.

“Don’t be mistaken. We are brothers-in-arms. When we saw the group of Wanderers rushing toward the Wang Fortress on the road, we were wondering what had happened, so we followed them to check on the situation...” Qian Su said in a solemn expression before he proceeded to take out the waist tag of Feiyang Commandant of the Weaponsmiths Quarter’s Quarter Master in Huanglong County from his chest and presented it to the five cavalries.

The five cavalries were shocked when they saw Qian Su’s waist tag and quickly retracted their weapons. In an instant, their attitude toward Qian Su and Yan Liqiang changed in 180 degrees.

“Greetings, Quarter Master...”

“What kind of crime did the Wang Clan commit to rouse such a commotion?”

“The Wang Clan has colluded with several degenerates among the Shatu people, abducted and slaughtered the women from Huanglong County and Pingxi City, and beguiled the young master of the Prefectural Governor in an unorthodox way. Since the criminal conspiracy of the Wang Clan has come to light, the Law Enforcement Office has already taken control of the various crimes that the Wang Clan has committed. The crimes have incurred the greatest indignation of mankind. By the orders of the Prefectural Governor, we have taken one step ahead and hastened our way to Huanglong County. Today, we are going to exterminate the Wang Clan and remove this evil cancer that harms the village for the sake of Huanglong County and Pingxi Prefecture...” One of the cavalries who seemed to be a young corporal replied to Qian Su.

“Oh, I see. I didn’t expect for the Wang Clan to actually do such a thing. It’s fortunate that the Prefectural Governor was able to discover this in time...”

“I sincerely hope that the Quarter Master will forgive us as we are ordered to stand guard here. We can’t let you enter again. If not, it will be quite bad for us to make a report...”

“No worries, no worries...” Qian Su waved his hand and smiled, “My fellow brothers are bound by duty that cannot be disobeyed. I naturally understand. Please continue on with your duty. We will observe from here and we definitely will not cause any more problems for you!”

“Many thanks to Quarter Master for understanding!” The corporal cupped his fists to Qian Su in response before turning his steed away and returning to the fortress with the others.

Yan Liqiang and Qian Su mounted their steeds and stood at the path along the road outside the Wang Fortress while they observed the situation in the fortress.

The Wang Fortress was currently in a state of disorder. Everyone was extremely panicked as their convoluted screams and cries rang out in the air. The entire Wang Fortress had instantaneously turned into a mess.

A group of troops ran around inside the Wang Fortress on their rhinodrake steeds while brandishing their blades as they bellowed, “By the orders of the Prefectural Governor, we are here in the pursuit of the criminal that is the Wang Clan. Those who are irrelevant to this matter, stand aside. We will kill anyone who puts up a resistance...”

...

When Yan Liqiang saw this situation, the expression on his face instantaneously changed as if he were afraid. He didn’t expect that Ye Tiancheng would actually do such a thing. In order to shift the blame and silence the crowd, he had actually sent the entire Wang Clan to hell without any hesitation. He shoved all the blame and faults to the heads of the Wang Clan...

Most of the members in the Wang Clan weren’t necessarily kind-hearted people. Similarly, there were definitely ordinary and innocent people that were in the Wang Clan. Seeing the assault today, it was unknown as to how many people in the Wang Clan had been wrongly prosecuted as a result of their eradication...

The scene in front of Yan Liqiang caused him to recall the incident that he, his father, and Yan Clan encountered on this day. It was the same day but at different time and place. A despotic Huanglong County that was significantly stronger than the Yan Clan was going to raid and destroy a clan in the blink of an eye. Such cruel reality once more made Yan Liqiang feel incredibly helpless and weak.

In just two months, he had changed a lot of things. However, some things could never be changed no matter what, which was quite stifling.

“Liqiang, what’s wrong? You don’t look so good...” Qian Su asked with concern as he stood beside Yan Liqiang. He looked at Liqiang, noting that he had been quiet for a long time.

“Uncle Qian, it’s nothing. I just feel a bit shocked, that’s all!” Yan Liqiang moved his lips as if he was smiling before he said in a low voice, “Uncle Qian, do you believe the things that the corporal said just now?”

It took Qian Su a few seconds to give Yan Liqiang a deep gaze and say, “I’m just a minor character here, so it doesn’t matter whether I believe in those things or not. The most important thing is that the Prefectural Governor wants the Wang Clan destroyed, which means that they aren’t allowed to live anymore. This is the coldest reality in this world...” At that point, Qian Su who was feeling a bit emotional lifted up his head to gaze at the somber sky of fluttering snow and continued, “Perhaps you will know in later years that this kind of weather is considered warm and pure when compared to the state of this world...”

“What crimes did our clan commit? Who are you people and where are you from? On what basis do you have the rights to come to the Wang Fortress and arrest people...”

On the street inside the Wang Fortress, a few disciples of the Wang Clan around the age of sixteen, seventeen, and twenty hustled out from a courtyard alongside the street with blades in their hands. They bellowed angrily at the squad of cavalries while surrounding them.

“Put your weapons down...”

The squad commander did not answer the question. Instead, he warned them with an aloof tone.

“Our Wang Clan is not to be trifled with. Get down from your steeds...”

“That’s right, get down from your steeds. This isn’t a place for you armies to behave atrociously. Don’t think you can drag us around just because you are mounting on a steed...”

“Go to hell. This is the Wang Fortress. I have beaten a soldier before in Huanglong County. What can you possibly do to me...?”

These youths from the Wang Fortress might be used to acting arrogantly in Huanglong County because of the absence of fear they displayed when facing those cavalries. Curses flew out of their mouths. None of them obeyed the officer’s words as they still held weapons in their hands while they rushed toward the direction of those cavalries.

However, these youths from the Wang Clan were only able to run a few steps before their lives reached the end because what they were met with were the dozens of arrows that the cavaiers fired at them.

The sharp arrows pierced their necks and chests across the distance of twenty meters, killing them on the streets of the Wang Fortress.

The squad commander only gave a brief, cold glance at the corpses without any slight intentions of dismounting from his steed. He just waved his hand and continued to lead the troops under his command to advance, jumping over the corpses on the ground and sprinting forward.

“By the orders of the Prefectural Governor, we are here in the pursuit of the criminal that is the Wang Clan. Those who are irrelevant to this matter, stand aside. We will kill anyone who puts up a resistance...” The officer on his steed continued to yell out with the same volume of voice which resonated throughout the streets of the Wang Fortress.

Of course, this wasn’t the only area where blood had been shed.

This was such an unforeseen circumstance to occur to a large family like the Wang Clan. The impetuous young people or those who relied on their status without the in-depth knowledge of the situation in the Wang Fortress of Huanglong County would jump out to obstruct the cavalries and even make moves against them.

Meanwhile, the cavalries killed those who dared to make a move against them on the spot. As for those who tried to obstruct their path, they were only given one warning. If they continued to be stubborn about it, the cavalries would kill them all in the same way.

Dozens of people were killed in the main street of the Wang Fortress in just a few minutes.

Yan Liqiang and Qian Su found a slightly higher slope just outside the Wang Fortress. Both of them rode on their steeds and felt the cold breeze on their faces as they watched the entire scenario unfold inside the Wang Fortress.

Because Yan Liqiang’s eyesight had already transcended beyond that of an ordinary person’s, it was as if each scene that was currently happening inside the Wang Fortress was replaying in front of him in his eyes. He could even see the expressions of disbelief and shock on the faces of those who were shot dead inside the Wang Fortress during their last moments. When most of them charged toward the cavalries that were raiding the fortress, they didn’t expect for the troops to be so daring as to kill them without hesitation.

At that moment, the disparity between the undisciplined courage of an unorganized group of ordinary people and the battle prowess of professionally-trained violent machines from an organization was clearly too great.

Even though the number of people in the Wang Fortress was greater, the hundreds of cavalries that charged into the fortress were capable of annihilating the entire fortress. From the moment people started dying, the Wang Fortress’ resistance had instantaneously collapsed. The tenant farmers, merchants, and other few ordinary people tightly shut their doors, not daring to come out again.

The puddles of fresh blood that flowed from the Wang Fortress’ main street to the ground of white snow were extremely unpleasant to look at. It was quite horrifying.

Meanwhile, those people in the main street were covered in a layer of white snow in just the blink of an eye.

In order for the Prefectural Governor to clean up his own mess, he had orchestrated this massacre without any qualms and he had sent an influential clan to hell in an instant. Even though Yan Liqiang harbored no good impression on the Wang Clan, he wasn’t happy about their misery at all. He still felt quite conflicted while he continued to observe the scene. Yan Liqiang thought to himself that this might be what people called as ‘digging their own graves’. When the Wang Clan allowed Wang Haofei to approach Ye Xiao in the first place, they thought he would be able to become a high-ranking officer by riding on the Prefectural Governor’s coattails. In the end, they didn’t expect for the affiliation they had been relying on to one day bring calamity to their clan.

Through the advancement speed of the cavalries into the Wang Fortress, the scattered few on the streets of the Wang Fortress were quickly cleared away in the blink of an eye. In the end, all the cavalries managed to rush to the magnificent fort situated in the middle of the fortress by going around all the corners and surrounding the Wang Clan.

That fort was the Wang Clan’s foundation. Most of the people from the Wang Clan lived inside that fort.

At this moment, the main gate was tightly shut. Everyone in the Wang Clan was already in disarray inside the fort.

An old man with a head full of white hair that looked like Wang Haofei emerged at the top of the fort wall in a trembling manner under the protection of a group of people in the surroundings. While embracing the cold wind, he looked at the cavalries below and asked in a quivering voice, “You, who are you all? Why did you invade the Wang Fortress?”

“We are under the command of the Xue Barracks of the Military Governor’s Office from Pingxi City. We came here today in accordance with the orders of the Prefectural Governor to apprehend the larcenists of the Wang Clan. The Wang Clan has colluded with Shatu people, pillaged, and slaughtered women from Pingxi County. The Law Enforcement Office has already obtained conclusive evidence against your crimes. Under such circumstances, if you don’t let us apprehend you all without resistance, perhaps you want to put up a desperate fight with us?”

An officer mounting on a rhinodrake steed spoke in a loud voice when he arrived outside the Wang Fortress.

The officer’s voice was quite blaring. The moment he spoke those words, not only could the people inside the fort hear him, those outside the fort could also hear him as well.

“I... I want to meet with the Prefectural Governor...” The old man standing at the top of the fort was livid. His voice was hoarse when he spoke to the officer below him.

“Do you think you can meet the Prefectural Governor just because you want to? You can meet him if you want, but you must submit yourself without any resistance. You might have the chance to see the Prefectural Governor once everyone in the Wang Clan arrives at the court in Pingxi City!” the officer mounted on his steed sneered. He curtly continued, “Now, I will give the Wang Clan half an hour. If all of you continue to close the gates within this time frame, the Wang Clan will be punished for rebellion. When we manage to barge through the fortress, everyone in the Wang Clan will not be spared and will be killed on the spot...”

...

Of course, the Wang Clan did not persevere for half an hour because Yan Liqiang and Qian Su were able to sense large movement from behind in just fifteen minutes. When they turned to look behind them, they saw a strongly-built Gong Tieshan appear at the path outside the Wang Fortress while leading about two thousand armies from the Gong Barracks.

There were about a few dozen officers mounted on their rhinodrake steeds in the frontmost line of the army from the Gong Barracks. A flag with the word ‘Gong’ embroidered on one side fluttered as an officer mounted on a steed waved it in front of the group. Two thousand troops from the Gong Barracks were stretched out in a line of hundred meters like a long snake as they marched behind the steeds, rushing toward the Wang Fortress with murderous intent.

Gong Tieshan who was almost drunk at the Weaponsmiths Quarter yesterday was currently seething with murderous intent. He was wearing a full set of armor while wielding a large blade akin to a guillotine blade in his hand as he led his troops on his steed.

Gong Tieshan also took notice of Yan Liqiang and Qian Su when both of them saw him because they were just on the sidewalk nearby. He quickly came over to them on his steed and asked, “Old Brother Gong, Liqiang, why are you guys here?”

Qian Su briefly explained the reason why he and Yan Liqiang were here before he proceeded to inquire, “May we know why Lord Gong is here as well?”

“Just now, the Prefectural Governor dispatched someone with the command from the Military Governor stating a matter of urgency. I was told to lead my troops to the Wang Fortress to assist the troops from the Xue Barracks from Pingxi City and the law enforcers from the Law Enforcement Office in order to apprehend everyone from the Wang Clan back to Pingxi City...” At that moment, Gong Tieshan shook his head and said in a low voice, “I really don’t know what kind of misfortune the Wang Clan has stumbled upon. The entire Gan Province even knew about the controversy in Pingxi City. To actually be involved with the Wang Clan, f*ck it. This clan is thoroughly finished. It’s fine. I have a military task at hand so I have to stop our conversation. Let’s drink again some other time when we are free...”

“As you please, Lord Gong!”

After saying those words, Gong Tieshan turned his steed around and went back into his troop’s formation. He then continued to lead his troops and charged toward the direction of the Wang Clan.

The moment the Gong Barracks flag appeared inside the Wang Fortress was the very last blow that crushed the Wang Clan’s will to resist. Just when the Gong Barracks’ flag entered the Wang Fortress, the gate to the Wang Fort suddenly opened. The old man who appeared at the top of the fort moments ago led a bunch of people from the Wang Clan and knelt on the ground with pale expressions. After that, a group of soldiers could be seen rushing forward at them...

“Liqiang, let’s go...” Qian Su took a deep breath and turned his steed around. Yan Liqiang followed suit and turned his steed to the other direction as well.

Before Yan Liqiang and Qian Su were able to walk a few li away after leaving the Wang Fortress, they managed to notice hundreds of law enforcers on the road who had rushed here all the way from Pingxi City. They were riding on their rhinodrake steeds as they headed toward the Wang Fortress...

Even though they had delayed their journey quite a bit, Yan Liqiang and Qian Su were still on time when they managed to arrive at the Lu Residence.

As a powerful clan of Huanglong County, they would be considered failures if they still didn’t know what happened to the Wang Fortress at this point, or that the Gong Barracks that were stationed at Huanglong County had already been dispatched to the Wang Residence.

And just for those reasons, when Qian Su and Yan Liqiang arrived at the Lu Residence and saw the situation around them, the atmosphere in the Lu Residence was filled with more murderous intent than usual.

As they continued on the path toward the Lu Residence, there were informers and cavalries all over the place. The entrance to the Lu Residencewas locked tight. The defensive walls outside the Lu Residence had already been occupied by the disciples of the Lu Clan. Each of them wielded bows and swords as they regularly patrolled on top of the wall as if guarding against all possible dangers.

As a powerful clan that was equally as famous as the Wang Clan, it would be entirely impossible for the Lu Clan to be devoid of defenses at a time like this after witnessing the Wang Clan’s catastrophe.

After both of them announced their names at the entrance to the Lu Residence, they waited for about ten minutes before the gates were finally opened for them. It was then that Yan Liqiang and Qian Su realized that Lu Peien was the one who was coming out to greet them in person.

Even after a long period of not seeing each other, Lu Peien was still very fat. His figure didn’t seem to suggest that he had slimmed down even in the slightest. He was wearing a sable fur coat that the falling snow would not stick on, and he had an unprecedented stern expression on his face as well.

“Don’t you know that something big has happened to the Wang Residence?” The first thing Lu Peien mentioned was the Wang Fortress when he saw Yan Liqiang and Qian Su.

“Of course we know. Liqiang and I just came from the Wang Residence. This time, they are utterly finished...” Qian Su shook his head.

“Ah, so both of you just came from the Wang Residence. What happened?” Lu Peien promptly inquired, “We have dispatched a few people to the Wang Fortress and Huanglong County to inquire for information, but nothing concrete has really come back to us...”

The three of them continued to chat while walking toward the Lu Residence. As soon as the three of them went in, the door that had opened for them was closed again in an instant.

Qian Su summarized the entire incident that had happened at the Wang Fortress to Lu Peien.

After listening to Qian Su’s account, Lu Peien let out a sigh of relief. Yet he couldn’t resist feeling a bit anxious: “So you are saying that the real target of the troops from Pingxi City is only the Wang Residence?”

“Positive. We even met Gong Tieshan and exchanged a few words just now. Gong Tieshan received an order from Pingxi City, but it was only to bring his troops to surround the Wang Fortress and assist the troops from Pingxi City to apprehend a bunch of people from the Wang Clan...”

The expression on Lu Peien’s face somewhat became a bit relaxed. He let out a long sigh and said, “The information you have delivered was duly needed. We have to let Old Master know about this. He’s still discussing matters with the convenor at home. I’ll bring you all to meet him...”

“Alright!”

After a few minutes, Lu Peien accompanied Old Master Lu and they hastened their footsteps into the living room inside the Lu Clan.

“We respectfully greet Old Master Lu...” Yan Liqiang and Qian Su quickly stood up and paid their respects to him.

“Ha, I didn’t expect Liqiang to be here as well...” Old Master Lu sat down at the head table and gazed at Yan Liqiang with a rare smile on his face.

“It’s been a long time since Uncle Qian and I have seen you, so we took some time and came back from Pingxi City. We came here today to specifically pay our respects to you. However, we didn’t expect to bump into a group of mounted troops during our journey...” While Yan Liqiang gave his greetings, he quickly added a sentence about the incident that had befallen the Wang Residence, which Old Master Lu was most concerned with and explained the details about what happened.

Yan Liqiang recounted the incident vividly and with clarity. With such descriptions, even if Old Master Lu wasn’t at the scene, he felt as if he had seen everything that had befallen the Wang Clan with his own eyes.

Old Master Lu’s long brows trembled as he continued to listen to Yan Liqiang’s account. The emotions on his face continued to change, until at last, he showed an expression of relief. However, a frown was still creased on his forehead and that had not been completely released. Old Master Lu caressed his beard and said, “Seems like the Wang Clan indeed was involved in that incident in Pingxi City. The incident that happened during the last few days was ginormous that it has been spreading throughout Gan Province. We have specially dispatched people to the main hall in Pingxi City too. Liqiang, you were at the martial arts academy at Pingxi City, so you must have heard of it. I heard that it was a few students from the martial arts academy who discovered the Shatu people in disguise, thus leading to a lot of things afterward!”

“Old Master Lu, you have asked the right person by talking to Liqiang...”

“Oh, perhaps Liqiang knows the students from the martial arts academy who discovered the Shatu people?”

“It’s not that Liqiang knows those students from the martial arts academy, but the student from the martial arts academy whom you spoke of is none other than Liqiang!”

Old Master Lu and Lu Peien were instantaneously shocked by Qian Su’s revelation. Their eyes widened, and they stared at Yan Liqiang with an expression beyond belief, “What, it was Liqiang who discovered them? What’s going on?”

“Liqiang, tell the whole story of that night to Old Master Lu. I believe he doesn’t know a lot of the details regarding the incident yet!”

“Alright...” Yan Liqiang nodded his head, “If I have to tell the story of that night, we will have to trace it back the cause which was two months prior. I was just about to report myself to the martial arts academy in Pingxi City that day. When I was entering the city, I saw a trade caravan belonging to a group of Shatu people....”

Yan Liqiang then recounted the whole impeccable incident and what happened that night to Old Master Lu and Lu Peien. They didn’t expect Yan Liqiang to be the one who personally experienced the incident of that night. Both of them were listening quite intently as Yan Liqiang recounted the dramatic and unexpected events of the incident.

At the end of the story, Yan Liqiang added, “When I was at the martial arts academy, I heard that the young master of the Wang Clan, Wang Haofei, who was killed by King Cobra, was a good friend of the Prefectural Governor’s son, Ye Xiao. Both of them were really hand in gloves with each other. Wang Haofei would often stop by Ye Xiao’s manor for a visit, and he would always flaunt his relationship with the son of the Prefectural Governor to his classmates. I didn’t think the Wang Clan would actually do those things just to flatter the son of the Prefectural Governor...”

The last part Yan Liqiang said was actually the most important part. Based on the insights of wisdom of Old Master Lu and Lu Peien, both of them were able to connect the dots and they instantaneously understood the reason why the Wang Clan would suffer such a disastrous calamity today after Yan Liqiang was done iterating his story.

Old Master Lu and Lu Peien exchanged looks with each other before letting out sighs of relief.

“Peien, go instruct the guards outside the wall to withdraw from the post. After that, reopen the gates to the Lu Residence. Don’t make it too hasty, otherwise it will make our clan look like we are doing this out of guilt. Just leave some men on the way and it will be fine...” Old Master Lu informed Lu Peien.

“Yes...” Lu Peien nodded his head, stood up immediately, and walked out of the living room. When he arrived outside, he called a steward over and gave him a few instructions in a low voice. Meanwhile, the steward of the Lu Clan continued to nod his head before jostling away immediately to pass on the orders.

Lu Peien then returned to the living room and sat down.

Old Master Lu gazed at Yan Liqiang. He felt like he liked him more each time he looked at him. With a smile on his face and his eyes squinted, he remembered that Yan Liqiang had saved his grandson’s life the first time he came to the Lu Residence. This time again, when the Lu Residence was in a state of panic and anxiety, Yan Liqiang’s words were able to instantaneously allow the Lu Clan to assess the situation clearly and find out the cause behind the situation. Yan Liqiang was simply the Lu Residence’s lucky star. The moment he came, good things would soon come to them.

“Liqiang, both of you don’t have to go back in a hurry tonight. The hunters from the village have delivered unto us a bear last night. The bear paw is still being steamed in the kitchen. I allowed the kitchen staff to prepare a few dishes last night. Let us have a meal together, drink some wine, and be lively. Both of you will have to stay at the village tonight...” Old Master Lu said smilingly to Yan Liqiang.

“The Wang Clan deserves to be punished. With that, the Lu Clan doesn’t have to worry about the Wang Clan avenging their young master’s short life by creating another lousy problem. Indeed, we must have a celebration for this...” Lu Peien smiled as well.

“Alright, then I better follow your advice. Uncle Qian and I will drink with Old Master Lu and Sixth Brother tonight!” Yan Liqiang said with a smile, earning a nod of approval from Old Master Lu and Lu Peien. “Mm, besides paying our respects to Old Master Lu today, Liqiang actually has another thing to discuss with both Old Master Lu and Sixth Brother...”

“We are friends. Liqiang, if you have anything to say, don’t hold back!” Old Master Lu caressed his beard and smiled.

“It’s like this, Liqiang has thought of a way to make a fortune. Uncle Qian and I don’t have confidence in this one, which is why we want to discuss it with Old Master Lu and Sixth Brother to see whether this method works or not...”

“Hahaha, Liqiang, I didn’t know you were able to think up a business deal to earn money. Alright, tell me about it and allow me to review whether this deal is adequate or not...” Lu Peien guffawed as he assumed the role of an investment advisor.

Afterward, Yan Liqiang told them about the idea of the honeycomb briquette; oh, it shouldn’t be called the honeycomb briquette now. He told them about what should be known as the lotus root briquette to Lu Peien and Old Master Lu in detail.

At the beginning of his explanation, Old Master Lu and Lu Peien listened intently with smiles on their faces. But when Yan Liqiang started talking about the production method and the formula to the lotus root briquette, the expressions on both their faces were completely replaced with solemnity and shock...

In comparison to Yan Liqiang and Qian Su, a large business such as the Lu Clan had a deeper understanding of the great value and business prospects that involved this small lotus root briquette.

Was this business deal possible? Of course. Those who turned their backs away from this deal were fools. Where would one be able to find a business that could sell soil as coal in this entire world? Even if the Lu Clan was not able to do this business, they could find others to join them and swallow this cake. As long as they could dominate Pingxi City’s market, this could be an endless supply of gold...

...

Naturally, Yan Liqiang had his dinner with the Lu Clan. When he saw the dinner table full of dishes, he didn’t know what to say. Fortunately, there weren’t any wildlife protection acts or social media in this era. If there were such things, his social circle would instantly go berserk if he took a photo of the dishes and posted them to his social media.

Yan Liqiang drank a bit of the fresh deer blood and wine but not that much due to their high intensities. After he took some sips, Yan Liqiang felt as if his body was burning up in flames.

After he was done with dinner, the sky was completely dark. Lu Peien secretly pulled Yan Liqiang outside when a bunch of people at the dining table were not paying attention to them. With a sneaky expression, he whispered, “Liqiang, do you want to see Beixin....”

Looking at the lewd expression on Lu Peien’s face, Yan Liqiang quickly thought about a certain affiliate occupation with an old profession. The tipsy sensation he had earlier disappeared in an instant.

Yan Liqiang rubbed his nose awkwardly as he watched the two maids from the Lu Clan lower their heads and left by the courtyard entrance after throwing him a careful look.

Lu Beixin lived in the western part of the rear courtyard, which could be considered the inner chamber of the Lu Clan’s grand manor. Many womenfolk stayed in the inner chamber and usually even male servants of the Lu Clan were prohibited from coming here, let alone outsiders. However, no one stopped him when he came here today. All the guards and maids in Lu Clan were treating him like air.

It seemed like his status as the future son-in-law of Lu Clan was secured. If he were to deny the marriage in the future, he wondered if Old Master Lu would hire someone to come for his life.

Yan Liqiang smiled wryly for a moment before he pushed open the courtyard door and entered.

There was a rockery, a small garden and a small pond inside the courtyard. Beside the small pond was a small, two-story pavilion. The light which seeped through from the inside of the pavilion illuminated the narrow path around the small pond which was paved with pebbles.

Yan Liqiang followed the narrow path to the front of the pavilion then knocked on the door.

“I’m not eating! I’m not eating! I’m not eating no matter what! Cuihe, tell my father that he can starve me to death and pretend he never had a daughter! Why does he still care about me?!”

A voice rang out from inside the pavilion and it seemed to be laced with endless grievances.

Yan Liqiang found out from Lu Peien that Lu Beixin, who lived inside, had already gone on a ‘hunger strike’ for two days. Today would be the third day. Lu Beixin had already spoken, if Old Master Lu was still going to ground her, she would end her life by starvation.

During the grounding period, Lu Beixin was completely isolated from the outside world. Until now, she still hadn’t received news of Wang Haofei’s death. The people from the Lu Clan didn’t dare tell her anything about it. Although Lu Beixin usually appeared to be quite an obedient girl, she had a very stubborn personality. Old Master Lu and Lu Peien were both worried that she might do something irreparable if she knew that Wang Haofei had been killed by King Cobra while he was waiting to meet up with her.

The Lu Clan was already at a loss of how to bring an end to this matter.

While Lu Beixin was speaking inside, Yan Liqiang had already taken out a key and silently unlocked the room door. He quietly entered the room and spotted her.

Lady Lu, who was rumored to have gone on a ‘hunger strike’ for three days was sitting cross-legged on a soft rug in the room. She was munching on osmanthus cakes while talking about starving herself to death. Since she didn’t expect that anyone would come in directly without notifying her, she was caught off guard. One of her hands was still holding a piece of half-eaten osmanthus cake and she seemed to be struggling to decide between eating it or throwing it away.

What was more surprising to Lady Lu was that the person who had walked in turned out to be Yan Liqiang.

Lu Beixin was currently dressed in a form-fitting, yellow fox fur top and a pair of jade-green pleated pants. Her hair was tied up into two cute buns, which appeared to be comfortably casual but also indescribably aesthetic. The way she sat with her legs crossed on the soft rug instantly showed off her nice body figure – the places which should huge were huge, the places which should be small were small, the places which should be round were round and the places which should be slim were slim. She was exceptionally attractive and a delight to the eyes.

Under Yan Liqiang gaze, Lady Lu’s face instantly reddened before she flew into a rage out of humiliation. After shoving the remaining half of the osmanthus cake all into her mouth and swallowing it, she immediately stood up and shot Yan Liqiang a fierce glare.

“Why are you here?!”

“Shhhh...” Yan Liqiang gestured to her to keep her volume down, then sneakily looked around his surroundings. “Keep it down...” He whispered.

Lu Beixin was baffled. She had no idea what Yan Liqiang was up to, so she gave him a skeptical look.

“Brother Wang Haofei sent me here to rescue you!” Yan Liqiang was still speaking to her in a hushed voice as he made his way over to Lu Beixin.

When Lu Beixin heard Yan Liqiang, she was so happy that she immediately jumped up from the soft rug in joy. However, in just the blink of an eye, a skeptical look returned to her face. “How did you guys know each other? And how did you get in here?”

“Did you forget that I’m also now a student in the martial arts academy? I got to know Brother Wang on the first day I entered the academy and I found his graceful bearing truly admirable. I didn’t know anything about Lady Lu and Brother Wang until he mentioned it to me a few days ago when I was drinking with him. I came here with my uncle today. Old Master Lu invited my uncle over to eat bear paws, so I tagged along too. I made up an excuse that I had too much to drink just now, to slip out and secretly find my way here...”

Lu Beixin was still giving Yan Liqiang a doubtful look and didn’t seem to fully buy his story.

“You still don’t believe me, Lady Lu? As predicted by Brother Wang... He told me that Lady Lu will only believe me if I say the five words...” Yan Liqiang smiled wryly.

“Which five words?”

“The pavilion at Plum Gardens!”

As expected, the expression on Lu Beixin’s face instantly changed the moment she heard those five words from Yan Liqiang. To her, this was a secret known to only her and Wang Haofei. She had never told this to anyone before. For Yan Liqiang to be able to say it so confidently, Wang Haofei must have been the one who told him that.

“Where is Haofei?” Lu Beixin immediately rushed over to Yan Liqiang, seized him by his shoulders and eagerly asked him.

Yan Liqiang had a serious look on his face. “Brother Wang is waiting for Lady Lu in a secret location. For your sake, he has already made the necessary preparations to elope with you. If Lady Lu feels the same as Brother Wang, then I shall bring you to meet him. If this is not what Lady Lu has in mind, then forget about it and pretend that I was never here...”

Lu Beixin hesitated for a moment before she clenched her teeth and replied, “Fine, I shall go with you!”

“Well then, please pack up your belongings quickly and put on a set of thicker clothes. I have already tricked the two maids outside away just now, they will be back at any time. I shall wait for you outside, Lady Lu...” After saying all these, Yan Liqiang immediately exited the room without looking at Lu Beixin and waited outside.

Lu Beixin was still a little hesitant at first. However, seeing Yan Liqiang had gone out and didn’t urge her again, she instead became more determined all of a sudden.

When it came to mind manipulation, even a total of one hundred Lu Beixins still wouldn’t be any challenge to Yan Liqiang.

As expected, Lu Beixin was very quick. In just less than three minutes, she came out wearing a thick cloak, carrying a sack on her back.

“This way...” Yan Liqiang led Lu Beixin toward the small garden in the courtyard. When they reached the courtyard wall, Yan Liqiang jumped slightly, kicked a few times against the wall and easily made it on top of the three-meter high wall like a swallow. Lu Beixin’s eyes lit up at the sight of his agile body movement from behind. It was probably rare to find anyone with such agility, even within the martial arts academy.

Yan Liqiang straddled the wall. With one of his legs hooked onto the wall, he lowered his body and extended his hand toward Lu Beixin. “Hold on to my hand, I will pull you up...”

Lu Beixin looked at the high courtyard wall then at Yan Liqiang’s outstretched hand. In just less than a second, she decided to accept Yan Liqiang’s offer.

It was pitch black outside. All they could hear was the indistinct voices of people in the front courtyard. Yan Liqiang ‘cautiously’ groped his way in the dark, avoided two patrolling guards and flipped over three courtyard walls before they finally made it outside of the Lu Clan’s grand manor.

A rhinodrake steed was already standing by in a small alley outside the grand manor.

Yan Liqiang mounted the steed first then told Lu Beixin, “Get up here!”

“Why is there only one steed? How are we going to ride it?” Lu Beixin didn’t climb up but was instead staring at Yan Liqiang.

“Well, how many steeds do you think I can ride here alone to the Lu Residence, Lady Lu? Are you also expecting me to hire a marching band to blow their trumpets and beat their drums to fetch you?”

Lu Beixin’s face reddened and adorably demanded Yan Liqiang, “You, get down, let me up there...”

“Lady Lu, are you thinking of making me pull this steed with you riding on it, all the way to the meetup location with Brother Wang?” Yan Liqiang laughed on the steed. “That place is very far from here. If Lady Lu thinks it’s possible to escape like that and isn’t worried about people from the Lu Clan catching up to us, then I don’t mind!”

After struggling and deliberating for a while, Lu Beixin finally clenched her teeth and mounted the steed. She sat in front of Yan Liqiang, as though she was being enveloped in his arms. Both of their bodies were pressed flush against each other. “Let me give you a warning – don’t try anything funny. I’m not that easy to bully...”

“Do you think I’m that kind of person, Lady Lu?” Yan Liqiang smiled. He then shook the reins and squeezed the steed with his feet on the stirrups. Like a racing car, the rhinodrake steed instantly sped forward. The sounds of its hooves reverberated in the air. In just the blink of an eye, they made it through a street inside the compound of the residence and escaped out of the Lu Residence.

...

At the top of the defensive wall of the Lu Residence, Old Master Lu watched the silhouette of the rhinodrake steed vanish into the darkness. After a long while, he averted his gaze and sighed. He gave Lu Peien, who was beside him, a wry smile. “I hope Beixin comes to her senses this time. Liqiang’s method is effective, otherwise, I don’t even know how to settle this!”

“Rest assured, Father. Although Liqiang is young, he is reliable. Ninth Younger Sister will be fine with him!” Lu Peien replied.

“Of course I have nothing to worry about Liqiang. Among the youths, he is the one I am least concerned about. It will be great if something can spark between them. I’ll have nothing to worry about if that’s the case...” Old Master Lu sighed and shook his head.

Qian Su and Lu Peien looked at each other, both of them had no idea how to respond to Old Master Lu’s words...

The rhinodrake steed’s legs were as powerful as a dragon. Even with Yan Liqiang and Lu Beixin on its back, its feet still struck the ground like thunder, sloshing the mud and snow on the ground as the sound of its iron hooves reverberated in the air. In the bitterly cold night, it galloped powerfully on the road, going against the howling cold wind and snowflakes.

Yan Liqiang drove the steed at high speed in the direction of Pingxi City.

Although there was a beauty in his arms, Yan Liqiang’s attention wasn’t on Lu Beixin, let alone fantasizing about anything. To be honest, if it wasn’t for Old Master Lu and the Lu Clan’s past favor towards his Yan Clan, he couldn’t care less about the life and death of an influential clan’s daughter. Yan Liqiang had only gotten involved in this because he wanted to get Lu Beixin, who had been fooled, to come to her senses for the sake of Old Master Lu and the Lu Clan. He didn’t wish to see anything happen to the Lu Clan again.

How could he get her to come to her senses? He had no choice but to give her a dose of strong medicine!

“Is Wang Haofei waiting for me in Pingxi City?” Lu Beixin, who was riding on the steed, was still a little nervous. She only felt relieved when she discovered that Yan Liqiang had no wicked ideas about her at all.

After the rhinodrake steed left the Lu Residence and reached the public road, which was more than ten li away, Lu Beixin was able to determine the position of the rhinodrake steed just from the direction it was heading.

“Yes, Brother Wang is waiting in a secret location within Pingxi City. You’ll know when you get there...” Yan Liqiang said calmly.

“I’m truly thankful to you this time. I didn’t expect you to be a good person...” Lu Beixin was touched.

Was this the legendary ‘friend-zoned’? Yan Liqiang secretly laughed in his heart, but the expression on his face remained serious. “I enjoy fulfilling the wishes of others. Pay no mind to it, Lady Lu...”

“If there’s opportunity, I shall thank you properly in the future!”

“Alright...”

“Tell me, how will my father and the rest feel, if I just run away like this...?” Although Lu Beixin seemed to be excited about eloping soon, she was also slightly apprehensive and restless. After feeling that Yan Liqiang was a ‘loyal and reliable’ subject, she couldn’t help but lay bare some of her thoughts to him.

“How do you think Old Master Lu and the rest would feel about it, Lady Lu?”

“They will definitely be worried about me...”

“If Lady Lu is having second thoughts about this, I can send you back now!”

“I’m not returning!” Lu Beixin started being stubborn again. “Haofei is a great man! Why does Father object to us being together, and doesn’t even allow us to date? I personally feel like Father holds some prejudice against Haofei. Why do the grudges between the past generations of the Lu and Wang Clan still carry on to our current generation? If I do not even have the right to make any decision on my feelings for myself, then it’s pointless even if there are mountains of gold and silver before me!”

“Indeed. I think any differences between clans should be long forgotten. I don’t see any problem with Brother Wang. I don’t get what Old Master Lu is thinking either...”

“That’s right!” Upon hearing that Yan Liqiang agreed with her perspective, Lu Beixin suddenly saw Yan Liqiang as less of an eyesore and felt as though she had found a close friend. “Oh right, what will you do if my father finds out that you are the one who sent me away?”

At this point of time, Lady Lu finally bothered to care about the consequences that passerby like Yan Liqiang would have to face for doing something like this.

“I will tell him that I was acting on impulse. I’m still young. Old Master Lu won’t do anything to me...”

Lu Beixin clenched her teeth. “I brought some money and jewelry which are worth about more than a thousand taels of silver. If things aren’t working out, I can split half of this money with you so that you can go into hiding too!”

“Thank you, Lady Lu. You are also indeed a good person...” Yan Liqiang acted like he was moved.

“I shouldn’t bring you trouble!” Lady Lu exclaimed in a righteous tone.

The wind felt strong on a steed. The moment one opened their mouth, they’d feel as though the chilly wind was filling their mouth. After speaking a few words, both of kept their mouth shut. Yan Liqiang focused on riding the steed, while Lu Beixin started to imagine the process of meeting up and eloping with Wang Haofei. She felt apprehensive about it but was also looking forward to it at the same time.

At this hour, not many people were seen hurrying on with their journey. Although the sky was dark, the snowflakes had painted the mountains and the plains white, which in turn improved the visibility of the road.

Yan Liqiang rode on relentlessly. After a few consecutive hours of journeying, he finally made it into Pingxi City with Lu Beixin at eleven o’clock at night, just right before the city gates closed.

When it came to Pingxi City, Lu Beixin might be more familiar than Yan Liqiang. The moment they entered the city, Lu Beixin eagerly asked him, “Where is Haofei?”

“Don’t panic, Lady Lu. That place is not easy to find, there are a lot of twists and turns. It’s hard to tell you, so I will personally bring you there!”

Having said that, Yan Liqiang then made a detour in the city with Lu Beixin for a while and found an inn to leave the rhinodrake steed. After that, he took another detour with Lu Beixin before he finally brought her to the alley behind the manor Ye Xiao lived in.

A few days ago, an incident which shook the entire Gan Province had taken place here. However, this manor had already been sealed off now. The inside of the once lavish manor was now pitch black without a figure in sight. Many people had even treated this manor as an ominous place since many female skeletons were uncovered inside the well in the rear courtyard. By eleven o’clock at night, not even pedestrians were seen anywhere near here. The night watchmen also seemed to deliberately avoid passing by this grand manor.

“Here?”

“Yes, here. We will go in from here since it will attract too much attention if we go from the front!” While speaking, Yan Liqiang had already agilely leaped to the top of the wall.

Although Lu Beixin found this manor rather strange, since they were already here, the confused her didn’t think too much of it. She followed behind Yan Liqiang and flipped over inside to the manor’s compound.

“Hmm, why would Haofei choose to wait for me here?” Lu Beixin looked around her surroundings when she was inside the manor garden. When she realized that there was not even a single person inside the grand manor, she couldn’t help but start wondering.

“One of Brother Wang’s friends used to live in this manor. That person moved away two days ago, so this manor is completely empty now. This is a good hiding place for Brother Wang, no one can possibly find him even if they tried...” Yan Liqiang explained while he familiarly made his way towards a room nearby. Lu Beixin didn’t think too much either and followed behind him.

The door he pushed open revealed a rather messy room which really seemed as though someone had moved out from there. Yan Liqiang pulled a cabinet by the wall and the entrance to an underground tunnel was instantly revealed.

The altar lamps made with whale oil were still lit inside the passage, making it seem as though someone was still around.

“You go first, Brother Wang is just downstairs. I will shut this door in case people from outside see the light and find out that there are people here...” Yan Liqiang instructed Lu Beixin with a normal expression.

As soon as Lu Beixin heard that Wang Haofei was just downstairs, she continued on without even thinking.

Yan Liqiang then pulled the cabinet at the back again...

Lu Beixin, who had just arrived downstairs with her heart filled with curiosity, noticed that the passage down there was paved with red rug. The decorations were very lavish, but the passage only led to two directions. Just when she was about to ask Yan Liqiang where Wang Haofei was, she felt Yan Liqiang tapped on her arm at the same moment she turned her head around. Lu Beixin then felt as though her entire body had gone completely numb and she couldn’t even move. When she looked at Yan Liqiang again, she realized that unbeknownst to her, Yan Liqiang had worn a ring on the hand which he tapped on her arm with. A black needle had sprung out from within the ring.

“YAN LIQIANG...!” Lu Beixin was both shocked and infuriated as she instantly yelled. She just couldn’t understand why had Yan Liqiang done something like this, no matter how hard she racked her brains. As soon as she was immobilized, a panic-stricken look which was hard to conceal instantly appeared on her face.

“We are underground. No one will hear you even if you scream at the top of your lungs...” Yan Liqiang looked at Lu Beixin calmly.

“What are you trying to do?”

“What am I trying to do? You will know soon enough!” Yan Liqiang’s smile grew indescribably sinister in Lu Beixin’s eyes. “I forgot to tell you... The owner who lived here was Ye Xiao. I’m certain Lady Lu knew Young Master Ye, right? I heard Young Master Ye seemed to be very obsessed with you.”

“Oh, so you are Ye Xiao’s lackey? My father will not forgive you if you dare to lay a finger on me!” Lu Beixin’s beautiful countenance instantly contorted as she completely lost her temper at the mention of Ye Xiao’s name.

Yan Liqiang shook his head. “You’re wrong. I am not Ye Xiao’s lackey. Your Haofei is his lackey.”

“Stop your nonsense! Don’t you even think about slandering Haofei...!” Lu Beixin shot a glare at Yan Liqiang.

“Hahaha, you will know soon enough whether I am slandering him or not!” Yan Liqiang laughed and immediately lifted Lu Beixin up in his arms.

Lu Beixin immediately shrieked in surprise. “PUT ME DOWN! WHAT ARE YOU DOING! PUT ME DOWN THIS INSTANT!”

“You can’t move for the time being. I’m just going to take you on a tour around here since your Haofei is a regular here. If you keep struggling or screaming, you better believe me when I say I will strip you bare naked and throw you into a rodent nest...!” Yan Liqiang shot a fierce glare at Lu Beixin. The words which came out of his mouth intimidated Lu Beixin, who instantly went silent in his arms.

Although Lu Beixin was a grown lady, Yan Liqiang could barely feel her weight in his arms.

He carried Lu Beixin and walked around the tunnel. After walking for a short while, they arrived in one of the underground rooms. There were metal pillars, about the thickness of an arm, everywhere in the room. The entire room was divided into eight prison cells.

“Do you see those little prison cells? This is the place where Ye Xiao imprisoned those pitiful girls he had abducted here. If your father didn’t ground you at home for a few months, one of these little prison cells would have been yours. Your Haofei would have personally sent a foolish woman like you here and imprison you in a little prison cell here to pleasure Ye Xiao...”

“Lies... Lies!! Haofei isn’t that kind of person!”

Lu Beixin, the beloved daughter of Old Master Lu who had lived a life of extravagance since young, had never seen such a dark place. Looking at those little prison cages and witnessing the dark side of the world for the very first time, Lady Lu’s face paled from fear. The faint scent of blood in this room made her felt so nauseous that she suddenly wanted to puke.

One of the most deepest impressions Yan Liqiang developed in his previous life was from a visit to Zazhi Cave prison.

Prior to the visit, he didn’t really know that much about Jiang Zhuyun’s strength or the cruelty of the prisons set up by Kuomintang’s military agents. He had only heard about them at most and that wasn’t enough for him to form any impressions of it. However, after he visited Zazhi Cave and saw the various torture devices in there like the tiger bench, chili pepper water, and branding iron, Yan Liqiang truly felt a deep veneration for those revolutionaries who could still remain unyieldingly loyal under such circumstances.

The impact of messages conveyed through visuals and immersive experiences were incomparable to other methods, regardless of depth or magnitude.

Even if someone told Lu Beixin that Wang Haofei was a bastard a million times every day while grounded at the Lu Residence, she still wouldn’t get just how much of a bastard Wang Haofei was. Instead, she would think that person was falsely accusing a good person and was just another person who wished to keep them apart.

Since that was the case, he figured he should just bring Lu Beixin here to see the place where Wang Haofei often enjoyed himself until he forgot to go home for herself. It would be far more effective than telling her the bad things about Wang Haofei a million times.

There were prisons and torture chambers in this underground facility. In the torture chamber, most of the torture devices were specially prepared for women. There were bloodstained devices particularly used for dealing with those disobedient women.

The other rooms were various entertainment rooms. There was a bathroom with an underground hot spring and all sorts of lavish and gorgeous bedrooms – they were simply dazzling sights to behold.

Normally, it was impossible to get girls like Lu Beixin to visit this kind of place. But now, with Yan Liqiang holding her, she had to look even if she didn’t want to.

“N-No... Haofei would never come to this kind of place! You must be lying to me! You are lying! I definitely won’t believe you or be tricked! No one can deceive me...!” While listening to Yan Liqiang describe what could have happened to her in here as they toured around the underground facility, Lu Beixin kept repeating this like a mantra as though she wanted to numb herself while shaking her head with a pale face.

“Hahaha, no one can deceive you? Who do you think you are? The one who deceived you before was Wang Haofei and he got you all wrapped around his little finger. And now, the one who tricked you into coming here is me. I think there isn’t even the slightest difficulty in deceiving a foolish woman like you. Now that you have fallen completely into my hands, you no longer have control over your life or death. Lady Lu, you are only deluding yourself by saying those sort of words at this kind of time!” Yan Liqiang laughed loudly.

Yan Liqiang’s words definitely dealt a hard blow to Lu Beixin’s self-esteem, and this was his plan exactly – to tell Lu Beixin that it was very easy to trick her. If he could trick her, then Wang Haofei could too.

“I didn’t expect you to be someone like this!” Lu Beixin glared at Yan Liqiang with her clenched teeth.

“There are many unexpected things for you. Don’t think you are very smart. To me, the silliest person is you. Just because everyone in the Lu Clan spoiled and pampered you, you think you are so special and you left the Lu Residence. To be frank, a woman like you is nothing but a piece of meat thrown into a pack of wolves. Without the Lu Clan behind you, you won’t even survive a month in a place like Pingxi City. The end that awaits you is either being kidnapped or trafficked by someone!”

“Hmph! I’m not going to believe anything you tell me tonight! You could be making up some stories about this place and the users of it...!”

“The owner of this place is Ye Xiao. He died a few days ago and this place has now been sealed off. During your grounding period, too many things happened in Pingxi City. You’re just not being informed about them...”

When Yan Liqiang mentioned Ye Xiao’s death, he noticed a slight change in Lu Beixin’s countenance. She seemed to be startled by this news. “You can choose to not believe in my words, but please use your brain to think – did you meet Ye Xiao first before you knew Wang Haofei? Did Ye Xiao pursue you before but got rejected by you? Did Wang Haofei appear before you and become acquainted with you after you rejected Ye Xiao? When you were studying at the martial arts academy and got acquainted with Wang Haofei, you must have known or asked around about him, so you definitely knew that Wang Haofei hung out with Ye Xiao. When you asked Wang Haofei about it, did Wang Haofei tell you he was only normal friends with Ye Xiao? And did he tell you that since Ye Xiao was the young lord of the Prefectural Governor and that his own clan back in Huanglong County was influential, it was inevitable for him to be involved with people like Ye Xiao? And if you disliked Ye Xiao, then did he say that he will definitely keep a distance between himself and Ye Xiao to appease you?”

The more Yan Liqiang spoke, the paler Lu Beixin’s face grew. By the end of it, the way Lu Beixin looked at Yan Liqiang was as though she had seen a ghost. That was because everything she experienced, even down to the explanations Wang Haofei had given to her, were pretty close to what Yan Liqiang had said.

“No need to give me that look. It isn’t too difficult to deceive a naïve girl like you. Just a few honeyed words are enough to make your head spin. Do you know why Wang Haofei could break it off with the Prefectural Governor’s young lord? Is it really because you are beautiful? Do you know how many women as beautiful as you in Pingxi City are working in brothels? It only costs three taels of silver to bed them. The best ones cost less than ten taels of silver. Are you telling me Wang Haofei has never seen taken them to bed before and was only infatuated with you?”

Yan Liqiang sneered coldly; his words were heart-piercing and bone-shattering. “Wang Haofei only told you that he was going to break it off with Ye Xiao so that you would let your guard down. He never liked you. In his eyes, you were nothing more than just a tool, a toy. The only reason he approached you was because he wanted to give you to Ye Xiao as his plaything and pleasure slave. You are nothing but a stepping stone to obtain greater favors from the Prefectural Governor for him and the Wang Clan. Ye Xiao desired to possess you because he had yet to establish his foundations. He was cultivating a type of nefarious technique which required women as supplements. Since you are beautiful with some martial foundations and is a virgin on top of that, you contain the most ideal materials for his cultivation!”

“Impossible! That’s impossible! How do you know all this?”

“How do I know? Who in Pingxi City doesn’t know about the scandal involving the Prefectural Governor’s young lord, Ye Xiao? Nearly the entire Gan Province knows about it! To tell you the truth, the Wang Clan in Huanglong County has been raided by the people sent by the Prefectural Governor today. Do you know what crimes Ye Xiao’s father has charged on the Wang Clan? The abduction of girls, harming civilians, and beguiling the Prefectural Governor’s young lord, Ye Xiao, in an unorthodox way!”

“What about Haofei?!” Lu Beixin’s face was completely drained of color.

“Your Haofei was long dead. About two months ago, he was mysteriously murdered by King Cobra at a pavilion on the isle in the Plum Gardens. His close relation to Ye Xiao has given the Prefectural Governor an opportunity to press things against the Wang Clan...”

“LIAR! YOU’RE LYING...!”

“I can lie to you, but the many innocent girls who lost their lives here won’t lie to you. If you wish to know the ultimate fates of most of the girls that were abducted and brought here, I can bring you there to have look...”

Yan Liqiang brought Lu Beixin upstairs from underground. They came to a bleak, gloomy, and cold yard in the rear courtyard and he pointed at a well there. “A few days ago, more than ten female skeletons were dredged up from that well. If your father hadn’t grounded you at the Lu Residence, one of those skeletons at the bottom of this well could have been yours, Lady Lu. This is the final destination Wang Haofei was going to send you to...”

It went without saying that the ‘immersive tour’ Yan Liqiang prepared for Lu Beixin wasn’t limited to only Ye Xiao’s grand manor which had been seized.

But of course, Lu Beixin had no idea what a chain of custody was.

The next day, Yan Liqiang brought Lu Beixin to visit a few residences in Pingxi City. They ‘expressed their sympathy’ to the families that lost their children and gave each clan ten taels of silver out of good will.

Seeing those families that lost their daughters and witnessing their pain of losing a family member, Lu Bexin was extremely disturbed as she listened to the parents, siblings, and neighbors of those commoners recount the scene of identifying their own daughter’s remains being dredged up from the bottom of the well. The impact of this was slowly gnawing away the firm belief in her heart that Wang Haofei was a good person.

On the third day, Yan Liqiang disguised himself as a wealthy young lord and brought a cross-dressing Lu Beixin to the most crowded place in Pingxi City – the Heavenly Fortune Tearoom.

Both of them eavesdropped on all sorts of discussions between patrons who were enjoying their in the tearoom for the whole day.

In that tearoom, nearly everyone discussed the shocking case which involved the Prefectural Governor’s son, Ye Xiao. However, since the Prefectural Governor now shifted all the accusations of that case to the Wang Clan of Huanglong County, people were uncovering all sorts of information either intentionally or unintentionally.

The few degenerates who colluded with the Shatu people to devastate and abduct girls in the city were from Wang Clan. The Shatu man that Yan Liqiang and the others caught admitted that everything he did was with the people from the Wang Clan. For the most part, he was acting under the Wang Clan’s direct instructions.

Needless to say, the responsible person for leading Ye Xiao astray was of course, still the Wang Clan. Not only that, he was the most remarkable representative among the younger generations of the Wang Clan – Wang Haofei.

A piece of information which came from the Law Enforcement Office indicated that one of the Wang Clan’s servants confessed that Wang Haofei had sent people from his clan to abduct two girls from Huanglong County. Then he personally delivered them to Ye Xiao’s manor...

...

By evening, when the sky was about to darken, the tearoom grew even more crowded. Lu Beixin’s countenance grew uglier and paler as she listened to more conversations in the tearoom regarding the Wang Clan and Wang Haofei. In the end, she couldn’t bear it anymore and rushed out of the tearoom.

Yan Liqiang settled the bills and then hurriedly chased after her. “What’s with that? You can’t stand it anymore, Lady Lu? Didn’t you insist on proving me wrong and wanting to gamble with me? Didn’t you insist on proving Wang Haofei’s innocence? Now you can’t stand it just from listening to the things that others are saying?”

“Those are all gossip. They can hardly be considered information...” Tears were already welling up in Lu Beixin’s eyes. Even so, she still bit her lip and stubbornly argued.

“Hahaha, now you’re telling me that was just gossip. Let me bring you to another place so you can see for yourself!”

“Where to?”

“You’ll know when we get there!” Yan Liqiang beckoned forth a horse carriage after he finished speaking, and headed off to a certain place in Pingxi City with Lu Beixin.

The place Yan Liqiang brought Lu Beixin to was the most luxurious pleasure quarters for men in Pingxi City – the ‘Crimson Tower’.

By early evening when the lanterns were first lit, Yan Liqiang and Lu Beixin arrived at the Crimson Tower. After a brief formal exchange, they met the madam of the Crimson Tower.

Before even saying anything, Yan Liqiang handed over five taels of silver. In response, the madam smiled until her eyes were narrow slits.

“Can you summon the same lady Young Master Wang requested during my last visit with him here?”

“Young Master Wang? Which one?” The madam was still smiling as she asked prudently. “There isn’t only one Young Master Wang among our patrons here.”

“What? You don’t even remember who I came with last time?” Yan Liqiang grimaced as he pretended to be displeased.

“Cease your anger, Young Master, cease your anger! The Crimson Tower is busy entertaining all sorts of patrons every day. This old me indeed has blurry vision and a bad memory. Please forgive me, Young Master...!” In reality, the madams in these kinds of places would meet countless people every day. Unless it was a regular customer, it was impossible for her to remember the patrons who came here to enjoy the service.

“Hmph, I’m talking about Young Master Wang Haofei!” Yan Liqiang deliberately exclaimed in an angry tone.

“Oh, now that Young Master mentioned it, I remember! Young Master Wang’s favorite lady was Lady Xiangxue. Every time he visited, he’d fool around with Xiangxue the entire night. Back then, Young Master Wang was the one who deflowered Lady Xiangxue. Two months ago, when Xiangxue heard something had happened to Young Master Wang at the Plum Gardens, she cried for a few days. When Young Master Wang was still alive, Xiangxue and her two servants were all specially reserved by him and they never had to receive other patrons. Now that something bad happened to Young Master, Xiangxue lost her benefactor and had no choice but to receive other patrons to earn a living. Unfortunately, just a few days after Xiangxue started receiving other patrons, she was chosen by one of our patrons who stopped by Pingxi City and she’s no longer works at the Crimson Tower. I heard she became a concubine...”

Before the madam even finished talking, Lu Beixin turned around and dashed out of the Crimson Tower.

By the time Yan Liqiang found her, she was hugging a tree by a river not far from the Crimson Tower, weeping and heartbrokenly crying her heart out.

After three whole days, this was the first time Yan Liqiang had ever seen Lu Beixin cry.

When he saw Lu Beixin, he asked himself if everything he had done over these three days was a little too cruel. He had completely crushed the most beautiful memories of a young girl in the darkest and cruelest way, then threw the pieces into a manure pit and told everyone to spit on it.

Lu Beixin went on crying for about half an hour before her weeps slowly reduced into sobs.

“Compared to those ladies who turned into the skeletons that were dredged up from the well, you should be rejoicing.” Yan Liqiang sighed again. “It’s actually not that big of a deal for your feelings to be cheated once. Just treat it as a lesson learned. In this world, things are black and white, evil and good, and beautiful and ugly; these are the vicissitudes of life. During your lifetime, you will encounter many people and many incidents. Not everything will go as you wish. You will find many people that will approach you with the intention of harming you from the beginning. But some people will also love you unconditionally, care for you, and stand by your side regardless of what you do to them. Therefore, you should forget about those pieces of trash and any bad relationships. Just treat them as the pain of growing up in life. It’s exactly because those disgraces and evils exist that beauty and kindness become extremely precious. Hence, the most correct path is to live a good life for the sake of those who love you dearly and care for you. Break free of your cocoon and turn into a butterfly...”

Lu Beixin’s sobs slowly ceased. She turned her head around and looked at Yan Liqiang in surprise with her eyes that were as puffy as peaches. She didn’t seem to expect Yan Liqiang to tell her these kinds of words because they didn’t sound like things people of his age could say at all.

“If the things I have done to you these few days have hurt you in any way, please believe that it is not my intention. Think of this as bitter but good medicine!” Yan Liqiang gave her an indescribable carefree smile. “I have just sent someone to inform people from the Lu Clan in Pingxi City. They will probably arrive anytime now and they will send you back to the Lu Residence tonight. Old Master Lu and the rest have been worried about you!”

A few minutes later, a lavish horse carriage and a few soldiers armed with weapons from the Lu Clan’s trading business appeared before Yan Liqiang and Lu Beixin. Then they took her away.

“Yan Liqiang...!” Lu Beixin suddenly lifted her head up before she climbed into the horse carriage. She gave Yan Liqiang a complicated look before she shouted his name.

“What is it, Lady Lu?” Yan Liqiang smiled at her.

Lu Beixin bit her lip. “I DESPISE YOU...!”

“I’m honored!”

Lu Beixin lifted up the curtains and entered the carriage.

Yan Liqiang finally let out a sigh of relief as he watched the horse carriage slowly disappear into the distance. After taking a look at the sky, he walked toward the western side of the city.

...

Five days later, when it was snowing heavily, Yan Liqiang stood topless in the loft of the small courtyard which he was renting in Wuyang Village. His entire body was red as though he was on fire. He watched the Spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth manifest into the images of one big red bow and four smaller red bows. The images sank into his legs, arms, and spine. Soon after that, Yan Liqiang felt his dantian explode. A strange image of a giant, crude cauldron with four legs caged his entire body within itself and then sank into the midst of his dantian Qihai acupoint.

Yan Liqiang had finally progressed as a Martial Warrior...!

The first thing Yan Liqiang did after he had successfully progressed into a Martial Warrior wasn’t to celebrate. He waited until all the advancement phenomena around him vanished before he took a deep breath and sat in a lotus position on his bed in the bedroom. He shut his eyes and started watching his inner sight.

Yan Liqiang had waited very long for this day. He had countless questions in his mind which needed clear answers.

Just what exactly was that ever-changing rock in his mind? What was that surreal experience he had before? Also, just what was that so-called Heavenly Realm he saw in his dream and all those outrageous experiences?

Everything would lead to a final answer after he progressed into a Martial Warrior – this was the hunch Yan Liqiang had in his heart.

When Yan Liqiang focused all his thought and attention on his sea of consciousness, the dense fog within his sea of consciousness was suddenly lifted.

As expected, there really were some changes in his sea of consciousness. The ever-changing mysterious rock in Yan Liqiang’s psyche before had really vanished, and it was replaced by an entrance.

The entrance was a rhombus-shaped door that radiated with an ever-changing, mysterious, and rainbow-like brilliance. The extremely magnificent entrance seemed to be waiting for Yan Liqiang to walk through it.

After hesitating for only less than a second, Yan Liqiang made a decision. He directed his gaze and attention on that rhombus-shaped door.

According to his ‘past’ experience, Yan Liqiang thought he would have to concentrate for at least three hours before he could enter through that door. However this time, the speed of him gaining access through the door was unexpectedly shorter by more than a hundred folds.

In just less than two minutes, Yan Liqiang heard a loud rumble before his consciousness and his mind went through that door.

...

“Welcome to the Heavenly Shrine, young man.” The moment Yan Liqiang entered, a voice suddenly rang out next to his ears.

By the time Yan Liqiang noticed his surroundings, he couldn’t help but let his jaw drop. He couldn’t put his shock and amazement into words.

He found himself in an indescribably magnificent and grand shrine. Giant black pillars about a few hundred meters high stretched on as far as his eyes could see around him. On those black giant pillars were specks of lights. Upon careful observation, every speck of starlight was a spinning galaxy. The floor beneath his feet also glowed with the same silvery-white luster. Countless runes were flowing underneath the floor like streams of water.

Between the two giant pillars before him was a round door. The white glow it radiated caused it to appear extremely sacred and holy, akin to an entrance leading to heaven. Behind him was that rhombus-shaped door of this grand shrinewhich radiated with a rainbow-like brilliance. The entrance of the grand shrine was facing this white-glowing door, and he was standing right in between the two doors. There was also a pond in front of him, right in the middle of this grand shrine. A seemingly familiar, gigantic and mysterious rhombus-shaped crystal that was about a few dozen meters tall was floating above the pond. The ever-changing silhouettes of various birds and animals could be seen on the surface of that mysterious rhombus-shaped crystal...

In this magnificent grand shrine, Yan Liqiang was as tiny as an ant.

The one speaking to Yan Liqiang was a strange being that was standing in front of the pond.

The strange being was about three meters in height. Its upper half was that of a human while his lower half was that of a snake. Its upper human half above the torso was clothed, and his hair was silver. He had an old face which seemed to have been weathered through the vicissitudes of life. Every wrinkle on his face seemed to be flowing with unfathomable wisdom and experience.

Yan Liqiang was startled at the sight of that strange being. Fortunately, he was calm enough to stay instead of spinning around and fleeing. That was because he recalled seeing such strange creatures before, but only on paintings and papers. Nuwa and Fuxi from Chinese legend and mythology looked just like that.

The human-snake-like being took a single glance at Yan Liqiang. The moment their eyes met, a thought automatically emerged in Yan Liqiang’s mind – this strange being was omniscient and there was nothing he could hide from him.

“How do you do? I am Yan Liqiang. How should I address you?” After feeling nervous for a few seconds, Yan Liqiang mustered up the courage and opened his mouth to ask him a question.

“You can call me Fu Guang!” Yan Liqiang figured that a smile had appeared on the strange being’s face. “I know you have many questions which you’ve been suppressing for a long time in your head right now. I know about everything you have experienced in the past and the present. Therefore, you can ask me anything. I will try my best to answer them through methods and language you can understand.”

“W-Who... are you?” Yan Liqiang initially wanted to ask, ‘What are you?’ However, he felt that the question was a little weird and rude when he was on the verge of saying it and he didn’t know if that would enrage Fu Guang or not. Hence, he changed the ‘what’ to ‘who’ in his question.

“I am the spirit of this Heavenly Shrine, a nearly immortal special lifeform without a physical body!”

“Spirit?”

“If I were to translate it into words that you can comprehend, you can treat me as your advisor, butler, or artificial intelligence here. I can answer all the questions you have and also assist anyone who enters this place to control everything in here. Now that you are the person who has entered this place, I therefore shall assist you in taking control over the Heavenly Shrine!”

“Are you alive?”

“That will depend on your definition of life. The existence of life in different universes, voids, and dimensions may be beyond the limits of your knowledge. The pursuit of different lives also varies greatly – fish desire the ocean, birds desire the sky, and some desire wealth while some desire power. To me, becoming an immortal spirit of this place which can roam freely between the different Heavenly Realms is my most preferred way of living.”

“Where do these two doors lead to?” Yan Liqiang pointed to the door in front of him and the grand shrine’s entrance behind him.

“The glowing white door in front of you is the entrance to the Heavenly Realm. The entrance behind you is the way for you to return to the real world!”

“I recall... there was a shape-shifting mysterious rock in my sea of consciousness before. Was that seemingly mysterious rock the same meteor that struck me in my previous life?”

“Indeed, that rock was the very same meteor which struck you in your previous life. It is called the Heavenly Stone!”

“The Heavenly Stone...” Yan Liqiang muttered to himself as he repeated the name once. He then looked around the grand shrine. “I remember the last time I entered the Heavenly Stone area, and the place seemed to be slightly different than this grand shrine. What’s with that?” Yan Liqiang looked at the gigantic pillars around him. Everything here was the same as some of the scenes he had experienced before while some were different. But the spinning galaxies in those gigantic pillars didn’t seem to be completely unfamiliar to him.

“What you see and perceived before is the state exhibited by the Heavenly Stone before it created the Heavenly Realm. The primordial, primary state is the perception of your consciousness under special circumstances. And right now, everything you see here is the ultimate state exhibited by the Heavenly Stone after the creation of the Heavenly Realm! You can take it as everything you saw and perceived before as an unfinished construction site, while everything you see now is what the site looks like after it has been constructed.”

“Has the Heavenly Stone vanished?” Yan Liqiang recalled a dream he had before. In his dream, the Heavenly Stone created the Heavenly Realm, and then vanished from his sea of consciousness, leaving only an entrance for him.

Fu Guang smiled and pointed at the gigantic rhombus-shaped crystal which was floating in the void within the grand shrine. “This is the Heavenly Stone’s true form. It didn’t vanish; it only turned into an alternative form. It is the core to both Heavenly Realm and the Heavenly Shrine of which it has created!”

Yan Liqiang’s eyebrows were knitted together. “This Heavenly Realm you speak of, is it the world that I experienced in the Divine Sword Sect inside the other body I reincarnated into?”

“Yes!”

“Then is everything real or fake in that Heavenly Realm?” Yan Liqiang asked heavily.

“The Heavenly Realm is a world born from the Heavenly Stone because of you. From this perspective, you can say that it is fake. However, from a life experience perspective, it is real. Everything inside the Heavenly Realm is no different than the real world. Not only that, you only get one chance in the Heavenly Realm. If you die in there, then you will never be able to go in there again!”

Yan Liqiang thought for a moment, then nodded. “I understand now. You are telling me that I can treat the Heavenly Realm as a real-life simulation game which can only be played once. If I die in the game, I will never be able to restart and replay the same game?”

“That is correct!”

Yan Liqiang laughed loudly. “Not bad, not bad at all! As the saying goes, ‘three days of foresight will lead to prosperity of a lifetime’. God has actually given me a chance. Just having knowledge of future major events that will happen in the world in the Heavenly Realm is enough for me. I wonder, how does the time between these two worlds harmonize with each other? I can’t possibly appear in two worlds at the same time.”

“When you are in a world, the other world is completely frozen in time. If you are in the Heavenly Shrine, both worlds are completely frozen in time. From today onwards, the time between both worlds will start synchronizing with each other. The largest difference between both worlds is seven days at most. If you live a day in the real world, then you will also need to live a day in the Heavenly Realm. Regardless of any circumstances, if you don’t enter the Heavenly Realm for more than seven days in total in the real world, or if you don’t return to the real world for more than seven days in total in the Heavenly Realm, then it will result in your death in the Heavenly Realm.”

When Yan Liqiang heard that explanation, he was instantly speechless. He digested the information for a moment. Then he took a look at this magnificent Heavenly Shrine and the floating Heavenly Stone. He licked his lips and asked another question. “Do you think there is anything else I should know about the Heavenly Shrine and the Heavenly Stone?”

“That is a very smart question!” Fu Guang gave Yan Liqiang a look of admiration. “Creating the Heavenly Realm is only one of the two functions of the Heavenly Stone. In fact, the Heavenly Stone has another greater use. This is also the reason behind the existence of the Heavenly Shrine!”

“What is that?”

“To create life and command reincarnation!”

These six words which came out from Fu Guang’s mouth resonated loudly across the Heavenly Shrine...

Fu Guang’s words were simply too imperious – to create life and command reincarnation!

Yan Liqiang was so shocked by these six words that he didn’t recover from his surprise for a long time.

After a while, Yan Liqiang swallowed a lump in his throat with difficulty and asked a question. “How can this create life and command reincarnation?”

“You will know it once you place your hands on the Heavenly Stone!”

Heeding Fu Guang’s words, Yan Liqiang walked toward the large rhombus-shaped crystal and placed his hand on it. Subsequently, an incredible scene appeared before him as he did so.

Blobs of red lights akin to the size of ping-pong balls abruptly poured out from the Heavenly Stone and began to swirl around Yan Liqiang. He reached out to grab ahold of the light and managed to catch one in his hand. As he took a closer look, he noticed there was actually a face inside the light blob. That face was quite distinct and very familiar to Yan Liqiang. This face belonged to Old Master Hong Chengshou from the Hong Clan whom Yan Liqiang had killed at Liuhe Town.

“Ah...” Yan Liqiang was startled. He loosened his grip, allowing the light blob to drift away from his hand.

Yan Liqiang quickly regained his composure and saw another light blob flying toward him. He reached out again and grabbed the light in his hands. After inspecting it closely, the face on this light blob was the face of a Shatu person. Yan Liqiang recognized this person as well. That night when Yan Liqiang transformed himself into King Cobra, this person was one of the Shatu people that he had eliminated in the warehouse at Pingxi City.

Yan Liqiang released this light blob and caught another passing blob. With a careful inspection, the face inside the third light blob belonged to King Cobra, whom Yan Liqiang had killed in an ambush in the pine forest. The real King Cobra was the one hiding behind the mask all along.

He then turned to look at the other light blobs. Almost all of the light blobs contained faces in their centers. All these people were, without exception, killed by Yan Liqiang – a bunch of people from the Hong Clan, and a large number of Shatu people.

“What... what’s going on with these light blobs?” Yan Liqiang asked Fu Guang, shocked.

“These light blobs are the souls of those you have killed. When you killed them, the Heavenly Stone captured and absorbed their souls and the life forces that were attached to the cores of their souls. Other than the inability to create souls, the Heavenly Stone can create all sorts of bodies of any species. Therefore, new life will be born when these souls and bodies created by the Heavenly Stone merge together. Those you have killed were all humans. While you can create life that is not limited to humans, you can decide what they will become in the future. This is reincarnation.”

Yan Liqiang was dumbfounded. “Isn’t this the same as being reborn?”

“More or less! However, there is a difference. If one is being reborn, they will have to start as an embryo or an infant, whereas if one is reincarnated through the Heavenly Stone, it isn’t necessary for one to start from being an infant. You can choose the body of any species and any age...”

“Isn’t this just going to give myself more trouble if I let them be reborn into something else after I have killed them? If they recognize me, they will definitely try to get even with me!”

“They won’t. When their souls were confined by the Heavenly Stone, their consciousness and memories were already wiped clean. If you let them be reborn, regardless of what they will become, you will be connected to them spiritually and you can become their natural master and leader. You will become their god and they will never betray you. Even if you let them die, they will not bat an eye.”

What the flying f*ck, this is simply too awesome!

This moment reminded Yan Liqiang of the games he had played in his previous life, which were World of Warcraft, The Three Kingdoms, Red Alert, and so forth. This Heavenly Shrine was just like a riot arsenal in these games. As long as those lives were created by the Heavenly Shrine, they would listen to his orders. If he had his hands on this thing earlier, he wouldn’t have had to worry about the sh*tty Ye Clan and the Prefectural Governor. With millions of troops storming at the Ye Clan, he would have been able to wipe them out in an instant.

However, after getting excited for a short while, Yan Liqiang quickly regained his composure. There was no such thing as free lunch in this world. Not to mention, even producing offensive units in games required resources to do so. The ability to create life in the Heavenly Shrine must have required other conditions for it to work. He couldn’t possibly have been able to create various lives continuously at the cost of nothing.

“What other conditions are there besides these souls and the core life force that you mentioned to create life?” Yan Liqiang asked Fu Guang a question.

“After you have fulfilled the above conditions, the most crucial step to create life is to activate the seal of life of the different species of your choosing inside the Heavenly Stone. As for activating the seal of life, you need to infuse the energy condensed from the dantian inside your body into the Heavenly Stone!”

“How do I operate it?”

“Didn’t you just touch the Heavenly Stone? How do you still not know about it yet?” Fu Guang looked at Yan Liqiang, bewildered.

Yan Liqiang was at loss. He looked at his hands and said, “I just touched the Heavenly Stone for a moment and those light blobs immediately flew out from it. Nothing else happened!”

“Ah...” Fu Guang suddenly slapped his head, stunned. “I am sorry. It’s been a very long time. I almost forgot this one thing – your powers are too weak. Among the 3,936,884,329 entrants who were lucky enough to enter the Heavenly Shrine in the past, your powers are considered to be the weakest. Because of that, despite the fact that you touched the Heavenly Stone just now, you are unable to communicate with it properly. If you can concentrate on your spiritual force, then your spiritual force will be linked with the Heavenly Stone the moment you touch it. You will be able to understand everything through your thoughts and finish everything...”

Yan Liqiang was embarrassed upon hearing that. Among the 3,936,884,329 entrants of the Heavenly Stone, he was the weakest. Was this possible?

“You don’t have to doubt it. It is precisely as it is...” Fu Guang seemed like he was able to read Yan Liqiang’s thoughts, “Even though your powers are slightly weak, you are the first absolute owner of this Heavenly Stone in a real sense. Those who came here before you only had finite number of chances to use the Heavenly Stone. Even a more powerful being had extremely limited chances of using the Heavenly Stone in their lifetime, which is why they did not dare to waste such an opportunity. In spite of that, the Heavenly Stone is right in front of you now!”

“What do I do now? Does this mean I can’t use it anymore?”

“Just wait for a moment!” With that, Fu Guang closed his eyes, and a ray of red light appeared on his body. He finally opened his eyes after half a minute and pointed at the Heavenly Stone, allowing the red light to vanish into the Heavenly Stone. “That will do. I’ve given you a little assistance so that you can use the Heavenly Stone through a method you can understand. Try putting your hand on the Heavenly Stone again...”

Yan Liqiang listened to Fu Guang’s advice and placed his hand on the Heavenly Stone once again.

At that brief moment, countless information regarding the Heavenly Stone abruptly flooded into Yan Liqiang’s mind. Yan Liqiang instantly formed a strange resonance with the Heavenly Stone. After that, an amazing mechanism that resembled a celestial globe that Zhang Heng had invented simultaneously appeared inside Yan Liqiang’s sea of consciousness.

There were many rings surrounding the golden mechanism. The outermost ring was golden, and the golden wheel on this ring had words that said ‘Available number of souls’ inscribed on it. There were also 47 head silhouettes behind those words. These shadows were the souls with the faces of the group of people from the Hong Clan and the Shatu people that had been confined and absorbed by the Heavenly Stone itself. Moreover, there was a pointer on the outside of this golden wheel. It could be moved around the wheel, and it essentially gave the option to choose one of the faces on the wheel.

On the inner ring inside the golden wheel, there were two colors – red and blue – each occupied their respective halves of the wheel. Numerous scales and numbers were etched on the red half-circle wheel and the blue half-circle wheel. Each of these half-circle wheels had two different colored pointers that were pointing at zero.

The largest value on top of the red half-circle wheel with ‘Available vitality points’ written on it was 4678.

The largest value on top of the blue half-circle wheel with ‘Available intelligence points’ written on it was 4145.

In between these two wheels, there was another wheel that was gray in color. ‘Own innate ability’ was written on it, and it also had a few pointers on it. Unfortunately, the gray wheel was currently immovable and unusable. There was nothing on top as there was no list of options to choose from.

Inside the gray wheel was a large, round ball whose diameter was several feet long. Just like a crystal, the ball was transparent and it could be moved too. There were words inscribed on the ball that said ‘Able to activate the seal of life’. There were various slideways and calibrations above the ball. Moreover, the shadow of a dog faintly flashed inside the ball.

“I activated your first seal of life and chose a dog for you. Take it as a gift from me. You can give it a try!” Fu Guang’s voice appeared right beside Yan Liqiang’s ears.

Hearing Fu Guang’s voice, Yan Liqiang was unable to contain his excitement and began to operate the wheels.

First, Yan Liqiang turned the pointer on the outermost ring of the golden wheel to a Shatu person with a repulsive face. After that, he moved the red and blue half-circle wheels, allowing the pointers of each half-circle wheel to point at 100.

That gray wheel was currently unusable, and there was no option to choose anything. So he just skipped that directly.

Next, he began to move each of the slideways and gears around the large crystal ball in the middle.

The dog’s shadow continued to change inside the crystal ball as Yan Liqiang proceeded to move the slideways and gears. The shadow of the dog shifted to a male dog with khaki color fur. The size of the dog was similar to that of a normal dog. He then selected the age of the dog as two years old.

After he was done, Yan Liqiang thought for a moment and looked at the pointers on the two red and blue half-circle wheels. He felt that he had gone a bit overboard, so he turned each of those pointers back to 50 again.

Because of the Heavenly Stone’s standard of evaluation, the intelligence and vitality points of a normal person were estimated to be at the average value of 100. These two types of energies were the core life forces taken by the souls of those people inside the Heavenly Stone that he had killed. The value of these points would then be used to determine the intellectual and physical abilities of the new life form.

He had killed 47 people in total, yet the values of those two life forces that were confined and absorbed by the Heavenly Stone were less than 5000 respectively, which was still lower than the Heavenly Stone’s average standard. Yan Liqiang felt that the dog could be very powerful for having half the value of a normal person, which would be 50 for each category. However, he also feared that something bad might happen if he were to truly allow a dog to become this demonic.

“Now, when you go back to the real world to activate the Heavenly Stone’s ability, it will only take five minutes for you to see what the dog you created looks like!”

“I wanted to go to the Heavenly Realm to check things out first. Let’s talk about it when I return. I won’t have a peace of mind until I see it...”

“Alright then. You should already have knowledge of everything you need to know here. My mission is done anyway. Goodbye, young man. I look forward to your splendid performance, and I hope that we will be able to see each other again one day...” As soon as Fu Guang was done talking, his entire body began to disappear right in front of Yan Liqiang like air bubbles.

Yan Liqiang was stunned. He looked at the empty Heavenly Shrine for a while before heading toward the gates of the Heavenly Realm in the end. His entire silhouette was enveloped in that white light in an instant...

Yan Liqiang opened his eyes and noticed that he was still sitting cross-legged on his bed. The bed curtain and the atmosphere inside the room were silently telling him something – this was the no.67 courtyard of the Divine Sword Sect at Tianqiao Peak, which was also his own residence.

There were no lights inside the room except for the moonlight pouring in from the window, which clearly indicated that it was late at night right now. There were insect sounds coming from the courtyard outside of the window, making it seem extremely secluded.

Nothing had really changed inside the room. Yan Liqiang took a cursory glance at the clock. The time was exactly quarter to three o’clock in the morning.

If he remembered correctly, this was the exact time that he had entered the Heavenly Stone earlier. It seemed like Fu Guang was right. The time here had indeed stopped after he had left, just like a save file in a game.

Yan Liqiang closed his eyes and looked into his sea of consciousness only to realize that there was a door in the deepest parts of his sea of consciousness as well. However, this door was round instead of rhombus-shaped, and that was the same shape he had seen at the Heavenly Shrine.

Yan Liqiang then got out of his bed and went in front of the bronze mirror inside the room. He observed his appearance in the mirror and massaged his face for a while, revealing a smile before pushing the door open and proceeding to the corridor outside his room.

No.67 courtyard was a small detached courtyard in Tianqiao Peak. It had two floors – Yan Liqiang lived alone upstairs, and Gu Zexuan and Zhao Huipeng lived downstairs. There was also a single balcony near the corridor just outside of Yan Liqiang’s room. The bright moon was akin to a wheel tonight. Yan Liqiang walked toward the balcony and gazed at the 36 gallant mountain peaks in the area within a thousand miles under the moonlight. Everything in front of him felt too otherworldly and picturesque.

He hadn’t thought about it before, that this world was actually a Heavenly Realm created by the Heavenly Stone. In a sense, this Heavenly Realm could be considered a parallel world based on Yan Liqiang’s understanding of it.

“Let’s check the date here. Today should be the seventh day of the fourth lunar month in the 17th year of the Yuanping reign in the Great Han Empire...” Yan Liqiang muttered to himself. He couldn’t help but feel somewhat excited.

If the time in the Heavenly Realm and the time in the real world was the same, then Yan Liqiang wouldn’t have become this excited. The difference of date between the Heavenly Realm and the real world was the reason why Yan Liqiang was so worked up in the first place.

The date in the Heavenly Realm for today was already the seventh day of the fourth lunar month in the 17th year of the Yuanping reign in the Great Han Empire.

Meanwhile, the date in his real world where he had progressed into a Martial Warrior was the twenty-seventh night of the eleventh lunar month in the 12th year of the Yuanping reign in the Great Han Empire.

The time difference between the two worlds was four years, four months, and eleven days.

When he was in another world, it was impossible for the time in the other world to freeze forever. Therefore, there was a flexibility present on the basis of the time difference between the two worlds.

With the seven day difference, which was also the time difference between the Heavenly Realm and the real world, an addition or subtraction of seven days could be set before or after the four years, four months, and eleven days. Essentially, the range of the time difference between two worlds could span from the smallest difference of four years, four months, and four days to the largest time difference of four years, four months, and eighteen days. Should the difference exceed the range, or Yan Liqiang be killed within the Heavenly Realm, then the Heavenly Realm would collapse altogether.

If he had known earlier, he could have reaped a long-term benefit from that. In the past four years, the things that had never happened in his real world had actually happened in this world.

In those few years, the Great Han Empire’s northern territory began to sink into turmoil again as the troops of the Great Han Empire went into a battle with the Chaman people once more. Meanwhile, at the western side where Yan Liqiang’s hometown was, the relationship between the Great Han Empire and the people from the Dark Ram tribe was beginning to grow tense at the borderline between the Gan and Feng Provinces. Friction would sometimes occur as well. Four or five vassal states outside the Great Han Empire severed their ties with the Great Han Empire in succession and threw themselves into the arms of the New Crescent Dynasty. On the other hand, the evil White Lotus Society had started its revival inside the Great Han Empire. They planned on establishing something that was known as White Lotus Heaven. The southern side of the empire was worse than others...

These were the pieces of information that Yan Liqiang had known about beforehand. Initially, he wasn’t particularly concerned about the overall situations of the nation. He only understood them at most, but at that moment, the significance of the situations had changed after he watched these events all over again.

In that sense, based on Yan Liqiang’s understanding, the Heavenly Realm was a window four years into the future where everything had changed in the Great Han Empire. However, the value of this was quite immeasurable.

Other than giving Yan Liqiang, who was already a disciple of the Divine Sword Sect, an understanding of the future, the Heavenly Realm had other uses for him as well. It granted him a chance to learn advanced secret manuals and scriptures. As one of the major sects in the world, the great Divine Sword Sect had opened their doors to him completely at this moment. Some people would never be given this kind of opportunity no matter how much they dreamed about it.

If he treated the Heavenly Realm as a game, then the reward from this game would be more than plentiful.

So no matter what, he had to become stronger than before. He must live on in this world manifested by the Heavenly Realm.

Yan Liqiang was determined.

At this moment, the sky was still dark. Even so, Yan Liqiang was no longer sleepy. The balcony was spacious and secluded, so he decided to begin his morning regime on the balcony.

After he was done with his morning regime, Yan Liqiang enthusiastically worked out his entire body and slowly did two rounds of punches. Gu Zexuan and Zhao Huipeng, who were living below him, were more or less awake. They walked out of their room and went to the courtyard outside to begin their morning practice.

“Ha, Leader, you are early today...” Gu Zexuan greeted Yan Liqiang with a smile when he lifted his head and spotted Yan Liqiang on the balcony. In these two months since he had arrived at Tianqiao Peak, the two people addressed Yan Liqiang as ‘Leader’, and quite smoothly at that.

“I also got up not too long ago. I was working out my body just now!” Yan Liqiang smiled.

“Why don’t we practice together? I haven’t seen your skills yet...”

“Alright...” Yan Liqiang did not refuse his request. As soon as he said that, he quickly jumped down from the second-floor balcony by flipping over like an agile ape in the air and flexibly landed at the courtyard below, standing on the ground steadily and firmly.

Just that action alone shocked Gu Zexuan. Zhao Huipeng was also staring at Yan Liqiang with wide eyes. The second-floor balcony wasn’t that high and was just about four or five meters above the ground. Gu Zexuan and Zhao Huipeng could also jump down without getting hurt like him. However, both of them wouldn’t be able to do it so easily and nimbly like Yan Liqiang.

Based on the standard of Yan Liqiang’s performance, which was leaping down from the second floor, the disparity between him and the other two was already quite evident. One could tell the difference in power just by glancing at his performance.

“Leader, have you... progressed into a Martial Warrior?” Gu Zexuan exclaimed in shock.

“Mm, I just did a few days ago. I have only begun to stabilize during the past two days...” Yan Liqiang said in a modest tone. Yan Liqiang did not tell anyone after he had progressed into a Martial Warrior, fearing that he would only attract attention to himself. Yet at this moment, Yan Liqiang did not have any reasons to hide his power anymore.

“Leader, you are too awesome!” Zhao Huipeng looked at Yan Liqiang with a gaze full of worship.

“Let’s talk no further, come...” Yan Liqiang then pulled up his posture by raising his hands.

Gu Zexuan and Zhao Huipeng exchanged glances before they vigorously shook their heads simultaneously like rattle drums.

...

After they finished their morning practice, the three of them went to the dining hall at Tianqiao Hall and had a sumptuous breakfast. When they were done, it was already morning. Yan Liqiang then brought Gu Zexuan and Zhao Huipeng to the warehouse to take inventory of the items for delivery. It was already afternoon when they finished their work. Yan Liqiang’s morning duties were all done by then.

“Leader, the selling price of the earth vinegar has been rising for the past two days. I used the method that you told me about and found a few shillabers to continuously stockpile and sell a few small bottles each day. It’s pretty useful. A bottle of earth vinegar can now be sold for two taels of silver. The supply always falls short of demand too. According to this trend, we can sell the batch of earth vinegar that we have collaborated about with Huo Bin in another ten days. We must earn a huge sum from this sale. I have been slightly worried about those guys for the past few days. I will go and check our stock today and remind them to not create ambitions of their own...” After locking the door to the warehouse, Gu Zexuan whispered close to Yan Liqiang’s ears and gave him a wink.

“Mm, go on then...” Yan Liqiang smiled, “This price is going to reach its peak soon. We will quit while we are ahead. If you see Huo Bin, tell him that we can have his batch out for reservation. The earlier the earth vinegar is booked, the cheaper the price will be. At a later date, the reservation price will become more expensive. The reservations must be fully paid, of course. Once this news gets out, you should act according to what I have said. The early birds will be given some discounts, while the latecomers will get smaller discounts. We can get our money back in advance without waiting for another ten days. As for the stock, they will be delivered ten days later...”

Gu Zexuan was already greatly impressed with Yan Liqiang’s business management. When he realized that Yan Liqiang had already solved this problem with just a few words, he quickly rubbed his hands together in excitement and said, “This is it, we’re going to make a fortune...”

“We are only just earning a bit of pocket money...” Yan Liqiang laughed, “Remember to leave some earth vinegar behind. Tianqiao Peak needs some of it too...”

“No problem, of course I understand this!”

“I won’t be of any help in this. Then I will go practice martial arts now...” Zhao Huipeng said as he scratched his head.

Zhao Huipeng’s location for practicing his martial arts every day was still at the usual vegetable garden. He practiced his martial arts while he guarded the remaining earth vinegar left by Yan Liqiang and the others, and that was quite reassuring.

“Go, go...”

When Yan Liqiang saw the two leave Tianqiao Hall, he stowed away the keys to the warehouse before he headed toward the courtyard at Tianqiao Hall.

When he arrived at the courtyard, he saw an already old Attendant Huang and reported the deliveries made in the morning to him in a formal manner. After that, he inquired Attendant Huang for further instructions.

Ever since Yan Liqiang came to Tianqiao Hall, he had always been very courteous to the aging Attendant Huang without giving him a slight tone of arrogance. Likewise, Attendant Huang was naturally satisfied with a young man who knew how to respect his seniors. The look he gave to Yan Liqiang had become increasingly gentle as well.

“Mm, I have nothing more for you to do. I am assured knowing that you are the one handling things...”

“The stock of crude iron in the warehouse has about thirty thousand jin left which won’t be used up even in a week. There’s no need to put the crude iron from the afternoon batch into the warehouse anymore. As such, I have already informed the relevant parties...”

“Mm, good!” Attendant Huang drank his tea and nodded in satisfaction.

“Then Liqiang will withdraw for now!”

“Alright. Take some more time to cultivate. These are just chores. Cultivation is the right path, so don’t delay that any further...” Attendant Huang emotionally remarked.

“There’s one more thing I need to trouble Attendant Huang with. I would like an audience with Hall Master Su. Also, I would like Attendant Huang to inform me when Hall Master Su is free!”

“Why do you want to see Hall Master Su?” Attendant Huang was shocked.

“I have already progressed into a Martial Warrior, which is why I want to request an audience with Hall Master Su so that he can issue a slip to allow me to pick a secret manual for cultivation at the Hall of Scriptures...” Yan Liqiang said, somewhat embarrassed.

The Divine Sword Sect followed a strict hierarchy. It was unlikely for a lowly servant like Yan Liqiang to meet the Hall Master of Tianqiao Hall as he pleased. For the past few months on Tianqiao Peak, Yan Liqiang normally had no chance of meeting Hall Master Su unless he summoned Yan Liqiang.

Above Yan Liqiang was Attendant Huang, and above Attendant Huang was another manager by the surname Qiu. Attendants and managers were allowed to directly meet the Hall Master. Despite having the status of a servant, external disciples like Yan Liqiang were still at the bottom and were inferior to the many official disciples on Tianqiao Peak. They were only a level higher than those external disciples that worked as menial laborers.

In the Divine Sword Sect, an external disciple would be entitled to select a secret technique or a battle technique in the Hall of Scriptures after progressing into a Martial Warrior with enough contributions to the sect.

Yan Liqiang had been in the Divine Sword Sect for almost half a year. If they were going to talk about contributions to the sect, then the hardship of cleaning the toilets for the past hundred days coupled with these two months of hard work would be sufficient enough to meet the requirement of the Divine Sword Sect’s Hall of Scriptures.

This was the great benefit of the Divine Sword Sect and the Heavenly Realm. Yan Liqiang certainly did not want to give up and he wanted to go even further in the Divine Sword Sect. If he wanted ‘Liu Guiyuan’ to eventually ‘notice’ him, then he’d have to show something a little different to him.

Attendant Huang was truly a benign and uncontentious man. Upon knowing Yan Liqiang had progressed into a Martial Warrior, he didn’t pull any tricks on him. He just asked Yan Liqiang to wait in his courtyard while he went off to find Hall Master Su. After he returned a few minutes later, he informed Yan Liqiang that Hall Master Su would be available before lunch time and that he could meet him at the Hundred Soldiers Tower.

Yan Liqiang expressed his gratitude and then left.

Before lunch time, Yan Liqiang waited for Hall Master Su at the Hundred Soldiers Tower of Tianqiao Hall half an hour in advance.

The Hundred Soldiers Tower was the building where Hall Master Su carried out his duties in Tianqiao Hall. Yan Liqiang normally didn’t have the rights to enter the tower. However, he had permission to enter today because Hall Master Su wished to see him. So he was currently waiting for him to appear in the main lounge on the first floor of the Hundred Soldiers Tower.

Various weapons tempered by Tianqiao Peak were displayed in the main lounge of the Hundred Soldiers Tower. They were dazzling sights to behold and each of them had distinctive features. Yan Liqiang wasn’t bored while waiting because he was studying these weapons. Compared to the weapons tempered by the Yan Clan, the qualities of these weapons displayed in the main lounge were far superior. The weapon with the highest standard from the Yan Clan was Yan Dechang’s Cloud Steel Sword which was made out of well-tempered steel. However, Cloud Steel Swords were regarded as the most common goods on Tianqiao Peak. Starting with the materials used to make them, the weapons tempered here were vastly different from those tempered by the Yan Clan.

After those half-finished materials were delivered and tempered with an unusual flame in the inner part of Tianqiao Peak, they became Tianqiao Peak’s exclusively-owned Pear Blossom Steel. The Pear Blossom Steel was far superior than the Hundred Tempered Steel in all aspects. In the subsequent processes, specific methods were used in steel casting, normalizing, annealing, quenching, and blade processing. The most impressive thing about Tianqiao Peak was that one or two amazing individuals there had mastered the unique art of integrating the core crystals of rare beasts into weapons during casting. This technique was known as Spirit Binding. This was the ultimate secret technique which blacksmiths could master in forging weapons. If Yan Liqiang were to describe this language from his previous world, any blacksmiths who could master this secret technique were considered national treasures.

Yan Liqiang had never seen any weapons that had spirits attached to them. Coincidentally, a sword with a spirit attached to it happened to be on display in the crystal cabinet of this main lounge. The sword was about five feet long and four fingers wide. It was far more domineering than any ordinary longsword. The entire blade glowed with a radiant purple. Yan Liqiang leaned closer to examine it more carefully. If he stared hard enough, he could vaguely make out the silhouette of a moving purple serpent in the glowing blade.

When Yan Liqiang was staring at it carefully, the purple serpent in the glowing blade seemed to have sensed him. In his daze, the blade’s glow intensified for a moment and Yan Liqiang saw the purple serpent snarl at him with its mouth wide open, revealing its sharp fangs before it plunged toward him.

Yan Liqiang was so shocked that he took a few steps back...

At the same moment, a loud angry voice thundered outside.

“Tell those people in the Four Seas Courtyard that this is our daily production of Pear Blossom Steel on Tianqiao Peak! This is the number of weapons we can forge and there are no surpluses! The remaining stock from before has been completely removed by Elder Lu! Every time they open their mouths, they will ask for twenty thousand Pear Blossom Steel weapons! How dare they ask for that goddamn much! Do they really think these Pear Blossom Steel weapons are bok choys that grow out from the soil or the eggs their chickens lay at home for them to be asking that for that many? I’m not a magician!”

“The Four Seas Courtyard said that the tension between the north and the Chaman people has intensified and that we have an unusual relationship with the Long Clan from the north. The Long Clan’s Storm Army is currently under great pressure. Han Jing is being ridiculous and the support given to the Storm Army in the past two years has been diminishing. The Four Seas Courtyard still has quite a number of businesses under the Long Clan’s care so they can’t possibly let them down. This time, the Long Clan has requested to equip a few elite camps to deal with the Chaman people’s Agitated Crow Army, so they have no choice but to ask the Divine Sword Sect for a favor...” Compared to the previous voice, this voice was much softer.

“Don’t find me for this kind of thing, ask the Four Seas Courtyard to find the Baogong Courtyard.” The angry voice from just now softened a little, but it was still loud. “We at Tianqiao Hall will follow the Baogong Courtyard’s instructions. If Elder Tu from the Baogong Courtyard gives his approval and also readjusts our other production assignments to prioritize this batch of goods, then the disciples of Tianqiao Hall will deliver the Pear Blossom Steel weapons to the Storm Army even if we have to work overtime without sleep. However, in this case, we can’t do anything even if God appeared...”

At this point in the conversation, both people had already arrived outside the main lounge.

Among the two people who had walked in, one of them was Hall Master Su who smelled like smoke. He was a bald, bearded man whose his chest was exposed, and that made him seem like he had just come out from the tempering grounds deep in Tianqiao Peak. The other one was a tall and slender man in his forties. He had a pair of sharp and narrow eyes and was dressed in purple robes. He was Manager Qiu Yi of Tianqiao Hall, the superior of Yan Liqiang’s superior.

“Greetings, Hall Master Su, Manager Qiu!” Upon their arrival, Yan Liqiang respectfully stood there and bowed to both of them.

Manager Qiu’s gaze fell on Yan Liqiang before frowning slightly. “What are you doing here?”

Yan Liqiang could hear something else in Manager Qiu’s tone, but he didn’t bat an eyelid. “Reporting to Manager Qiu, I have requested for an audience with Hall Master Su...”

“Alright.” Hall Master Su came in and then turned to Manager Qiu. “Just reply to the Four Seas Courtyard like this.”

“Understood!” Manager Qiu threw a glance at Yan Liqiang again before he turned around to leave without saying anything else.

“I heard from Old Huang that you have already progressed into a Martial Warrior?” Hall Master Su looked at Yan Liqiang.

“Yes!”

“Not bad, not bad. It’s indeed not easy to progress into Martial Warrior at your age!” Hall Master Su looked extremely happy. For Yan Liqiang to be able to progress into a Martial Warrior so soon meant that he had an eye for selecting people.

“I’m just fortunate, that’s all!” Yan Liqiang replied humbly.

“Hm, it’s nearly been half a year since you served at Tianqiao Peak. I heard from Attendant Huang that you’re responsible for overseeing the materials coming in and out from the warehouse over these few months and you didn’t make any careless mistakes. Not only that, you even sorted out the account books from before to follow a standard. These contributions are enough for you to learn an introductory secret technique. I shall issue you a slip. You may visit the Hall of Scriptures in the afternoon to pick a cultivation technique.”

It seemed like the big boss was a lot easier to deal with than the lackeys. Hall Master Su had given Yan Liqiang the greenlight after saying only two or three words, and he didn’t even deliberately make things difficult or unpleasant for him.

“Thank you, Hall Master Su!”

“Haha. We have quite a lot of skilled blacksmiths at Tianqiao Hall, but not many have the aptitude for cultivation. As a result, our Tianqiao Hall has never managed to receive any rankings in the Sect Tournament of Divine Sword Sect which is held at the end of every year, and we often end up at the bottom. Train well and strive for it this year. If not, then next year! Help Tianqiao Hall redeem our reputation back during the martial arts competition between the external disciples of Martial Warrior rank. I have faith in you!”

“Understood. I, Yan Liqiang, will definitely try my best!”

“Good. Take this!” While speaking, Hall Master Su had already finished writing a slip on the table and put a seal on it before he handed it to Yan Liqiang.

Yan Liqiang accepted it and carefully stashed it away. After expressing his gratitude again, he bid his farewell and left.

As soon as he exited the Hundred Soldiers Tower, Yan Liqiang once again saw Manager Qiu’s gloomy face.

Manager Qiu seemed to be waiting for him outside the Hundred Soldiers Tower.

“Greetings, Manager Qiu!”

“You are still quite new at Tianqiao Hall, so perhaps you still aren’t clear about some of the rules. Hall Master Su has many daily affairs to deal with, so he doesn’t have much time for trivial matters. Therefore, you can just look for me should you need anything. Do not bother Hall Master Su unnecessarily!” Manager Qiu lectured Yan Liqiang with a straight face before he finally asked, “What business did you have with Hall Master Su just now?”

“I have just progressed into a Martial Warrior, so I wished to get Hall Master Su to issue me a slip to allow me to visit the Hidden Manual Hall...” Yan Liqiang replied calmly.

Manager Qiu’s expression changed slightly when he heard Yan Liqiang claim that he had already progressed into a Martial Warrior. “Did the Hall Master issue it to you?”

“Yes, he did!”

“Alright, go then. Train well from now on, and do not let the Hall Master down.” Manager Qiu gave him a few words out of formality and then waved his hand emotionlessly.

“Understood!” Yan Liqiang bowed to Manager Qiu before he left.

Even when Yan Liqiang had walked far enough, he could still feel Manager Qiu’s eyes on his back.

Attendant Huang was very old in age and he had progressed into a Supreme Martial Warrior through the use of medicinal pill in the end. Thus, his prospect in the Divine Sword Sect came to a halt right there. On contrary, Manager Qiu’s position was a lot higher than Attendant Huang’s when he was still in the prime of his youth. For someone insignificant like Yan Liqiang to suddenly get promoted by Hall Master Su, he understood that both of them would perceive him differently in their eyes.

Attendant Huang was a good man who was conscientious and didn’t want to offend him. From the looks of things, the probability of Yan Liqiang progressing into a Supreme Martial Warrior in the future was guaranteed. Hence, his prospects were greater than Attendant Huang’s. However, that didn’t necessarily mean that Manager Qiu would want to see him fare too well...

The situation before his eyes was no different than what many people would encounter in their careers back in his previous world.

Yan Liqiang thought to himself in his heart, but didn’t turn his head around. He was still set on descending the mountain and making his way to the Hidden Manual Hall of the Divine Sword Sect.

This was an opportunity for him to claim his first reward in the Heavenly Realm. Yan Liqiang would still go even if there were a hundred Manager Qius trying to stop him.

To Yan Liqiang, Manager Qiu was nothing more than an NPC [1]...

The Divine Sword Sect’s Hall of Scriptures was located on Tianji Peak, which was named after the 36 Heavenly Spirits among the Stars of Destiny. This was an important place in the Divine Sword Sect, and hence it was heavily guarded. This was the first time Yan Liqiang had ever visited this place.

By afternoon, when the sun was hanging high above his head, Yan Liqiang was already standing at the foot of Tianji Peak.

There was a checkpoint at the foot of the mountain. An attendant from the Hall of Scriptures was assigned to stand guard here with a few servant disciples. After Yan Liqiang showed his waist tag and the slip Hall Master Su had issued to him, he was personally led up the mountain by an inner disciple dressed in black with a solemn face.

“Tianji Peak is an important place in the sect. Follow me closely and do not wander around. A wrong step may just cost you your life!” The servant disciple emotionlessly told Yan Liqiang this on the way.

“Understood. Thank you, Senior Martial Brother!”

The disciple dressed in black robes nodded, then led Yan Liqiang up the mountain.

The difference between Tianji Peak and the other 35 peaks was that there weren’t any plants on Tianji Peak. The entire mountain was barren as far as the eyes could see and everything in sight looked very plain. There was only one path up the mountain and it was straight and steep. The entire path was open along the edge of the cliff and the steep slopes. The four-foot wide road was divided into two, one for going upward and the other going downward. It kind of reminded Yan Liqiang of the precipitous mountain path on Mount Hua which he had visited in his previous life.

After walking along the mountain path for more than twenty minutes and passing two more checkpoints, the servant in black brought Yan Liqiang to the Hall of Scriptures’ compound outside. After another round of inspections, he passed Yan Liqiang to another servant outside that later led Yan Liqiang inside the Hall of Scriptures. After taking a few turns left and right, they arrived at a small courtyard. In that small courtyard was a magnificent, nine-story pavilion. In the middle of the pavilion was a signboard with three huge golden characters inscribed vertically on it –’Hall of Scriptures’.

Disciples dressed in robes of various colors went in and out of the Hall of Scriptures. Every disciple of the Divine Sword Sect that entered this place was accompanied by an attendant disciple from the Hall of Scriptures. With someone following them around, most people rarely conversed here. Therefore, the atmosphere was silent and solemn.

There was a window high above the ground at the Hall of Scriptures’ entrance, like those in a pawnshop. As soon as Yan Liqiang entered the hall, he handed over his identity tag and the slip issued by Hall Master Su inside the window. After another inspection and verification, a key was issued from inside the window. The servant disciple who brought him here accepted the key, then led him further inside.

After turning into a corridor and taking another two turns, the servant from the Hall of Scriptures finally brought Yan Liqiang into a room.

It was a room about the size of two thousand square meters. Rows of bookshelves lined the room, and the secret manuals sat on those shelves.

Despite Yan Liqiang’s composure, even he had to gulp a mouthful of saliva at the sight of this scene as he took in the amazement which shook him to his core. He was feeling more intense than how Granny Liu felt when she visited the Grand View Garden for the first time [1] by tenfolds. Pingxi Prefecture was already remote to begin with, so things like secret manuals were very hard to come by. Therefore, Yan Liqiang never expected such valuable and secret martial arts manuals to appear before him like this.

“Wow, that’s a lot of secret manuals!” Yan Liqiang sighed in amazement with an exaggerated and half-sincere tone. He looked at the servant who brought him into the Hall of Scriptures. “Excuse me Senior Martial Brother, can I just pick any secret manual that is in here?”

The servant in black who brought him in smiled haughtily. “This collection of secret manuals has been built up for over a thousand years in the Divine Sword Sect through the painstaking efforts of countless seniors and founders in the sect. This is also one of the reasons behind the Divine Sword Sect’s recognition as one of the four major sects in the world. You may pick any one of the secret manuals here, Junior Martial Brother. But since Junior Martial Brother has just progressed into a Martial Warrior recently, I would advise you to not be dazzled by these secret manuals. It is of utmost importance to pick one practical secret internal cultivation manual. Take it slow and steady. You probably will still have another opportunity to come in here again to choose another one in the future!”

“Thank you for the advice, Senior Martial Brother.”

“Well, take note that some secret manuals here are incomplete. They will be indicated on the iron casings of those secret manuals. If you pick one of those incomplete secret manuals, you won’t be able to cultivate the technique to its highest realm as stated in the manual. However, those incomplete secret manuals which are still be stored here are top secret manuals. However, one shouldn’t underestimate them even if it is impossible to cultivate them to the highest realm because one can still master the remaining contents. They are stored here because the missing sections are the later parts!”

“Alright, I will take note of it!”

“You will be given fifteen minutes to make your selection. I will wait for you here. Bring the iron casing over after you have made your selection. If you are unable to make your selection within fifteen minutes, it will be treated as you have forfeited your opportunity this time.”

“Understood!”

After chatting with the servant at the entrance for a while, Yan Liqiang walked into the midst of those bookshelves and started browsing.

Every bookshelf in this room was made out of iron. All the secret manuals were put in heavy and sturdy iron casings. They were arranged on the bookshelves and locked. Without a key, they couldn’t be opened.

On the label of each iron casing were the secret manual’s name, level, and whether the secret manual had missing pages or not.

Although there weren’t many people in the Hall of Scriptures, Yan Liqiang felt uneasy the moment he walked into the middle of those bookshelves. An indistinct aura filled the Hall of Scriptures and the aura kept making Yan Liqiang feel as though he was being watched so he didn’t dare to mess around.

Shrouded by this aura, Yan Liqiang could only act like the other disciples while he skimmed over the bookshelves.

Yan Liqiang took a rough look and noticed that although these secret manuals were stored in the Divine Sword Sect, many of them were not Divine Sword Sect’s exclusives. The Divine Sword Sect’s primary focus was on sword technique cultivation. However, there were all kinds of secret manuals here – an entire collection which encompassed all eighteen classes of martial arts, including swords, sabers, fists, and leg techniques. He could tell that many of them were not even the Divine Sword Sect’s as they were of totally different styles: for example, ‘Yang Clan’s Seven Deadly Fists’, ‘Five Tigers Breaking the Gate Saber’, ‘Peng Clan’s Spear Technique’, ‘Tan Clan’s Shadowless Kick’, ‘Qushan Eighteen Canes’ and ‘Tang Clan’s Weapon Throwing Technique’. The moment he saw these secret manuals, he knew that they didn’t originally belong to the sect. There were probably some stories behind their appearances in the Divine Sword Sect’s Hall of Scriptures.

The servant was right. An individual who had just progressed into a Martial Warrior would be able to begin their internal cultivation. Therefore, secret manuals on internal cultivation were usually top priority for everyone who managed to get in here.

Naturally, Yan Liqiang was no exception. Although the secret manuals here were a dazzling lineup, he merely browsed through them as though he were flower viewing on horseback before he directly went over to the row of bookshelves with the internal cultivation labels.

The internal cultivation that the Divine Sword Sect disciples cultivated was for the sake of assisting the sword techniques they’d be cultivating in the future. The three most cultivated internal cultivations were the ‘Violet Mist Divine Technique’, the ‘Origin Returning Divine Technique’ and the ‘Primordial Unity Geng Metal Internal Cultivation Technique’. Among the people who joined the Divine Sword Sect, 99 percent of them cultivated one of these three internal cultivation techniques. But of course, as a disciple who had just joined the Divine Sword Sect, even if they cultivated these three secret techniques, they wouldn’t be able to completely understand them. The iron casings of these three techniques were labeled with two obvious words –’Beginner Level’. This implied that these three cultivation techniques’ secret manuals were only good for Martial Warriors and Supreme Martial Warriors to cultivate. After these two stages, if one wished to still continue cultivating these techniques, then they would have to make enough contributions to the sect. These beginner level secret manuals were followed by three other levels – intermediate level, advanced level and expert level.

There were about more than a hundred secret manuals on other types of internal cultivation.

Yan Liqiang only took a single glance at these three secret manuals before he walked away. He didn’t pick these three secret manuals which were widely cultivated by everyone in the Divine Sword Sect. Instead, he spotted a very dusty iron casing chucked in a barely noticeable corner on the internal cultivation bookshelf. On that iron casing were two lines of text –

The first line of text read –’Ten Dragons Ten Elephants Divine Technique’.

The second line of the text read –’Critically missing pages. Highest realm limited to Supreme Martial Warrior only. Please consider carefully!’

After spotting this secret manual, Yan Liqiang pretended to pace around that row of bookshelves for a long while. After pondering and being indecisive for the longest time among those secret manuals, he clenched his teeth, picked up the iron casing which contained the ‘Ten Dragons Ten Elephants Divine Technique’, and left the bookshelf when his time limit of fifteen minutes had almost expired.

“Junior Martial Brother, although this is a high level secret manual which has been passed down for over a few thousand years, it is incomplete. After progressing into Supreme Martial Warrior, there won’t be any more content to cultivate in this secret manual. Seniors in the Divine Sword Sect who have cultivated this secret manual in the past had no choice but to switch their cultivation to another secret manual after they progressed into Supreme Martial Warriors. Are you sure about it?”

“I am sure. I have a feeling that this secret manual is different from the others, so I would like to give it a try!”

“Alright. You will be given three days to memorize the contents of this secret manual. If you can’t memorize it all today, then you may come again tomorrow. You are only allowed to memorize the contents of this secret manual in your mind. You are prohibited from making a written copy, telling anyone else about it without permission, or deliberately damaging the secret manual. Otherwise, you will be severely punished according to the laws of the sect. I am sure you know well of the consequences!”

“I understand!”

Upon hearing Yan Liqiang’s response, the servant disciple immediately led Yan Liqiang to a lonely room of less than three square meters in size. He unlocked the fastening mechanism on the iron casing of the secret manual with the key in his hand and then left the room.

Shutting the door behind him, Yan Liqiang was left alone in that small room. He opened the iron casing and took out the secret manual.

From the looks of it, this ‘Ten Dragons Ten Elephants Divine Technique’ was obviously a copy and not the original copy. Nearly every secret manual in the Hall of Scriptures was a copy. Their original copies were hidden in a more secret location by the sect, inaccessible to ordinary disciples.

Out of the entire Divine Sword Sect, aside from those of the Sect Guardian lineage, most people didn’t know that the original copy of this ‘Ten Dragons Ten Elephants Divine Technique’ was complete and that the complete version of this secret manual was only passed down the Sect Guardian’s lineage.

The internal cultivation cultivated by the Sect Guardians of Divine Sword Sect was this ‘Ten Dragons Ten Elephants Divine Technique’, which was deemed to be incomplete by most people...

This was a first-rate secret manual which could reach up to twenty layers of realms...

This time, Yan Liqiang stayed a day in the Heavenly Realm. During the daytime, after he memorized the so-called incomplete version of the ‘Ten Dragons Ten Elephants Divine Technique’ in the Hall of Scriptures, he returned to his small courtyard at night. When he sat in a lotus position on his bed, he once again entered the Heavenly Shrine.

Fu Guang was nowhere in sight. There wasn’t anyone in the entire Heavenly Shrine except for the Heavenly Stone and that celestial globe-like object which controlled it.

Yan Liqiang only took a glance at everything in the Heavenly Shrine before he strode to that unidentifiable object, and pulled its lever down with a click. An amber light instantly shot out from the Heavenly Stone at the side and manifested into the silhouette of a dog. It revolved around the Heavenly Stone two times and then shrank into an amber bead about the size of a ping-pong ball before it passed through that rhombus-shaped entrance and vanished in the blink of an eye.

At the same time, the dog’s silhouette within the crystal ball in the middle of that object disappeared. The ‘Available spirit points’ became 46, while the ‘Available vitality points’ and ‘Available intelligence points’ were also reduced by 50.

Yan Liqiang was stunned for a good moment upon seeing this for the very first time. At first, he thought something earth-shattering would happen. Unexpectedly, everything was this simple.

“Damn, this is just like a capsule toy machine...!” Yan Liqiang muttered to himself while he looked at the object that he couldn’t identify. He then went through the rhombus-shaped entrance and returned to reality.

He found himself still upstairs in the small courtyard in Wuyang Village. It was still snowing heavily outside and the cold wind was howling. It was pitch-black in the room. Yan Liqiang’s current state remained the same as when he had just progressed into a Martial Warrior.

The time in reality seemed to be frozen ever since Yan Liqiang entered the Heavenly Realm. It seemed like only a total of two minutes had passed and these two minutes represented the time when Yan Liqiang had his mind and attention focused on entering the rhombus-shaped door. Everything in the Heavenly Realm was really like a game. To Yan Liqiang, the feeling of leaving the Heavenly Realm was akin to saving a game before quitting in his previous life.

The difference between this and a game was that he left the Heavenly Realm with a copy of the ‘Ten Dragons Ten Elephants Divine Technique’ secret manual in his mind. At the same time, Yan Liqiang also felt like he had an additional object in his grasp.

He opened his palm. Upon taking a closer look in the dark room, he discovered an amber sphere about the size of a ping-pong ball on his palm. Inside that sphere was the silhouette of a dog solidified in it – this was from that ‘capsule toy machine’.

If he were to show this to other people, ninety-nine out of a hundred people would think that it was a strange amber. That was because the feel, texture, and color of this object were really too similar to an amber.

After carefully examining the sphere for a while, Yan Liqiang placed it in front of his eyes and stared at it with rapt attention for a moment. When he saw the solidified silhouette of the dog start moving in the sphere, he instantly tossed the sphere on the ground.

The sphere glowed red for a moment before the red light dissipated and a powerful-looking huge yellow dog appeared in the room. Everything was just like magic, leaving Yan Liqiang stunned.

The newly-born dog briefly looked around the room. After looking lost for a short moment, it wagged its tail and circled around Yan Liqiang in excitement. When Yan Liqiang stretched his hand out, the dog came over and started licking his palm happily. For a brief moment there, Yan Liqiang felt a fascinating spiritual connection forming between him and the dog. He had a hunch that this dog would be able to understand his words.

“Sit...!” Yan Liqiang pointed to the ground before his bed.

As soon as the dog heard Yan Liqiang’s order, it obediently sat on the floor and remained on the spot.

“Stand...!” The dog got up again.

“Turn clockwise seven times and anticlockwise five times!”

The huge yellow dog instantly turned clockwise seven times and then anticlockwise five times. Not only could it differentiate between directions, but it also knew how to count.

Yan Liqiang had dogs in his previous life, but those dogs he kept were nothing compared to this one before him. This dog was too interesting.

“If I don’t feed you, will you be able to find your own food?” Yan Liqiang asked the dog.

“Woof, woof...!” The dog barked softly twice and even nodded.

“Can you open the door?” Yan Liqiang pointed at his bedroom door.

The dog glanced at the door and actually nodded.

“Show me then...”

Upon hearing Yan Liqiang’s command, the dog wagged its tail and ran to the door. It stood up, planted two of its front paws on the door, then bit on the door’s wooden latch and pulled it. It released the latch before it gently pulled the door with its claws. The cold wind immediately flooded in as soon as the closed door was opened, suddenly dropping the room temperature by a few degrees.

“Can you close the door?”

With the wind blowing in from outside the door, the difficulty of closing the door suddenly increased significantly. But the dog went around behind the door and then pressed its head against the door, taking one step at a time to shut the door again. It then lifted its two front paws from the ground, pressed them against the door, and bit on the wooden latch. After several attempts, it managed to reinsert the latch back on the door to shut it.

Yan Liqiang laughed heartily. He got up from his bed, went to the wardrobe in his room and found a clean blanket. He then walked near the entrance and properly laid the blanket on the floor right beside the pillar which was behind the door. “Let me give you a name, I shall call you Goldie from now on! You will sleep here tonight!”

When the yellow dog heard Yan Liqiang, he immediately came over and curled up his body on the blanket.

Yan Liqiang smiled and patted the dog on its head before he went back to his bed to sleep.

...

Over the next few days, Yan Liqiang stopped paying attention to other affairs and was no longer bothered by the ups and downs in Pingxi City. He spent every day living a carefree and fulfilling life in the small courtyard with his dog.

During the daytime, he either walked his dog on the mountain to hunt for hares or cultivated Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing in his room to stabilize his Martial Warrior realm as soon as he could. By night time, when he slept, he would again enter the Heavenly Realm to start working hard in the Divine Sword Sect.

With this, an ordinary person’s one day was about Yan Liqiang’s two days spent in both reality and the Heavenly Realm.

In the beginning, Yan Liqiang was slightly unused to it. But after a few days, he became accustomed to it and immediately treated the Heavenly Realm as a fun game that could be started before his bedtime. As for that Heavenly Stone, it was impossible for him to wrap his head around it regardless of how awesome Fu Guang made it sound like, or just how incredible it really was. For someone like him, he simply treated the Heavenly Stone as any ‘capsule toy machine’ with special prizes in it – except that the condition to activate it was harsher for this one.

Yan Liqiang spent about eight or nine days like this. When his Martial Warrior realm had slowly stabilized and he was about to start cultivating the ‘Ten Dragons Ten Elephants Divine Technique’, two unexpected visitors suddenly arrived at the small courtyard he was renting in Wuyang Village...

The snow on the road had yet to completely melt. The mountain road was particularly difficult to walk on because it was very slippery. Most of the time, one wouldn’t even know if there was a rock, a pit, or a thorn underneath the blanket of snow. The sharp rock edges could easily scratch one’s feet and throw people off-balance. If it was a pit, it was very easy to sprain one’s foot while the thorns on the road would most likely pierce the soles of one’s feet...

Goldie was bouncing happily in front of Yan Liqiang, leaving a trail of paw prints on the snowy path. Yan Liqiang was behind Goldie and he had a hare in his hand while he easily made his way through the snowy path too.

Over these few days, his Martial Warrior realm had slowly stabilized and his newly established dantian had also taken a complete form. The improvement in his physical attributes brought a totally different experience and feeling to Yan Liqiang’s Nine Palace Wind Shadow Steps technique attained at the sixth layer. Every step he took on the snow was light but steady. Although couldn’t see the condition of the road beneath the snow, he imagined everything beneath the snow consisted of wooden stakes which were difficult to land on. Every contact Yan Liqiang’s feet made with the ground was akin to how a dragonfly touched the surface of water – light and fleeting. Regardless of what was underneath the snow, the moment Yan Liqiang’s feet made contact, he leveraged himself and bounced up. The craggy mountain road which was difficult to walk on became a place for Yan Liqiang to train his body technique and footwork. He was gaining something while relaxing.

When he returned to the village from the mountain, Yan Liqiang spotted Shi Dafeng and a constable dressed in his official attire standing at the entrance of his small courtyard, seemingly waiting for his return. Yan Liqiang’s heart immediately thumped when he saw a constable at his door, and the fact that he had also come with Shi Dafeng.

“Woof, woof!!” Goldie barked twice. Shi Dafeng and that constable turned their heads and finally noticed Yan Liqiang who had just come down from the mountain path.

“Liqiang, here, here!” Shi Dafeng, who was dressed in a leather coat, waved at Yan Liqiang and his face broke into a smile.

Yan Liqiang gave him a smile too and walked over to them as he remained calm and collected. “Brother Shi, why are you here?”

“Looking for you, of course. Luckily, I heard you mention about living here before so I asked the villagers around here. They told me that you’ve still been around over the past few days and even descended the mountain to buy some steamed buns in the morning. If I couldn’t find you here today, I would have had to send someone to Qinghe County to search for you...” Shi Dafeng said, then glanced at the huge yellow dog beside Yan Liqiang. “You’re even keeping a dog?”

“Yes, I found it a few days ago on the mountain and it followed me home!”

Shi Dafeng was going to reach his hand out to pat Goldie on its head. However, as soon as he reached out, the initially lovable Goldie instantly bared its teeth and fiercely glared at him. Shi Dafeng forced two laughs and hurriedly retracted his hand. “Seems like you and this dog are brought together by fate...”

“So this is Young Master Yan Liqiang?” The bailiff spoke up.

Yan Liqiang nodded to the bailiff. “Yes, I am. Sir, you are here for...?”

“Well, Patrol Inspector Sun would like to meet you!” The constable gave him a smile and spoke to him politely. “If Young Master Yan is available, please take a trip with me to the city so I that can make a report!”

Yan Liqiang glanced at Shi Dafeng who then winked back at him.

“Alright, please wait for a moment. Let me put my things away and go with you!”

Yan Liqiang opened the door to his courtyard and let Goldie inside. He then tossed the hare he hunted into the yard before he locked the door up again.

“Is it safe to leave the dog and rabbit together? Won’t the yard be in a chaotic state by the time you return...?”

“No worries, this dog is docile. Let us be off...”

“This way please!” The constable was relieved when he saw Yan Liqiang’s efficiency.

By the time they descended the mountain, a horse carriage was already waiting for them by the roadside. The constable directly went to grab a seat beside the coachman, leaving the carriage for Yan Liqiang and Shi Dafeng.

Yan Liqiang and Shi Dafeng climbed into the carriage. When the coachman shook the reins, the horse carriage started moving.

“Brother Shi, what is going on?” Yan Liqiang immediately pointed towards the front of the carriage and asked Shi Dafeng.

Shi Dafeng nodded, then deliberately spoke at a normal volume. “You’ve really been enjoying an easy life over these few days, walking a dog and hunting hares. Did you know hell has already broken loose in Pingxi City?”

“If I didn’t come here, there’s nothing I can do if I stayed in the city either. We just happened to run into the incident that night by coincidence. As for the verdict, it will all be up to the Law Enforcement Office and the Prefectural Governor. We can’t do anything to help and we’ve already told them what we could. Now, we just have to make sure that we do not create more trouble for others...”

“Have you already been informed about the Wang Clan?”

“The Wang Clan from Huanglong County?”

“Of course, if not, what else? No one is talking about King Cobra now. The Wang Clan in Huanglong County was seized due to the incident that night. A few hundred of their clan members, regardless of their gender and ages, were all captured and taken into custody on a prisoner carriage to Pingxi City. You weren’t there to witness their pathetic states...”

“I heard about it. But this has nothing to do with us. It’s a huge incident, and the Prefectural Governor and Law Enforcement Office will not falsely accuse them...” Yan Liqiang spoke with a sense of righteousness. He then slightly lowered his voice, “Oh right, what’s up with that Patrol Inspector Sun? How come I’ve never heard of such a person?”

“Patrol Inspector Sun is an imperial envoy sent from the Imperial Capital to patrol the provinces. He unexpectedly caught wind of the incident in Pingxi Prefecture when he had just arrived at Gan Province not long ago, so he purposely took a trip to Pingxi City in order to further understand the situation. Lord Sun wishes to meet us after he heard that it was the three of us who discovered the incident that night. I heard that Shen Teng hasn’t in Pingxi City lately because he had gone home, so they sent people to summon him back here. I recalled that you mentioned that you lived here, so I brought that constable here to look for you...”

“Oh, I see!” Yan Liqiang scratched his head awkwardly. “I wonder how high is the Patrol Inspector’s ranking...?”

“The Patrol Inspector ranks higher than the officials. I heard that even the Provincial Governor has to be respectful around him. So how high do you think his ranking is?”

Yan Liqiang had an idea now, but he didn’t expect that the incident in Pingxi City would actually attract the Patrol Inspector who was patrolling Gan Province here. Everything in Pingxi City was totally different than ‘last time’. The ripples of the butterfly effect had grown larger.

When the horse carriage entered Pingxi City, Yan Liqiang instantly thought Pingxi City was much cleaner. The number of soldiers and bailiffs patrolling the streets didn’t diminish – it instead increased while the thugs had all vanished without a trace. Pingxi City seemed to have put quite a lot of effort into welcoming the Patrol Inspector.

The horse carriage wasn’t going to the Law Enforcement Office. Instead, it went to a manor near the Plums Gardens and the Lake of Longevity.

The compounds of the manor were guarded by soldiers. Officials and horse carriages who were waiting for their audience with Patrol Inspector Sun were already forming a long queue on the road outside.

Aside from Pingxi Prefecture, officials from the few surrounding prefectures also made it here.

The constable brought Yan Liqiang and Shi Dafeng to the compound of the manor, then handed them over to a low-ranking officer dressed in his official uniform. The low-ranking officer led both of them from the manor’s side entrance and to the side hall inside the manor.

“Wait here and don’t go anywhere. If you need anything, let the servants know. By meal time, someone will deliver your meals and drinks here. When you are summoned by Lord Sun, someone will bring you there!”

After giving a brief explanation to Yan Liqiang and Shi Dafeng, the low-ranking officer left. He left two servant girls behind in the courtyard to standby for their orders.

Both of them waited the entire morning as though they were waiting to have an audience with the prime minister.

By noon, the maids who were left in the courtyard served a few dishes to both of them. After eating their lunch, both of them continued waiting in the courtyard.

By afternoon, Shen Teng was escorted here by someone else, and the three of them were once again reunited.

Shi Dafeng smiled when he saw Shen Teng again and winked at him. “Long time no see, Brother Shen. You’re really dressed up. Could it be that you’ve been meeting some fair maidens from another clan back at home for an arranged marriage over these two days?”

Shen Teng, who was handsomely dressed as though he were a young lord from some aristocratic clan, instantly went red and retorted, “Lord Sun is an imperial envoy from the Imperial Capital. If we are going to meet Lord Sun, then we mustn’t be sloppy and should be dressed appropriately as an act of respect!”

“If Brother Shen is so confident of your own conviction, then why are you blushing?” Shi Dafeng continued teasing Shen Teng as usual.

“Who’s blushing?”

“Liqiang has the best vision. Go ask him, who is blushing?!”

“Alright, stop teasing Brother Shen, Brother Shi. Brother Shen is right, I was going to dress more appropriately, but it couldn’t be helped since I was in a rush!”

Shen Teng started laughing. “Liqiang’s the best!”

“Oh right, I wonder if both of you know who exactly Lord Sun is?” Shen Teng leaned in and whispered to both Yan Liqiang and Shi Dafeng when he saw that there was no one else in the room.

“Does Brother Shen know?” Yan Liqiang asked with a smile.

“I don’t really know in detail either, but I heard that Lord Sun is quite a figure. Back in the day, when he was a Prefectural Governor, his reputation spread far and wide because of an incident...”

“What happened...?”

“Lord Sun killed every single Shatu envoy who passed by his territory when they were on their way to present a tribute at the Imperial Capital...”

“What?!”

When Shen Teng told Yan Liqiang and Shi Dafeng the information he had heard about the Patrol Inspector, both of them were stunned. They didn’t expect that someone this crazy actually existed in this world.

...

Shen Teng’s arrival didn’t push forward the time Lord Sun was going to have an audience with three of them even in the slightest.

The three of them waited for the entire afternoon again. By evening after dinner, they were still waiting. Someone finally came to the small courtyard where the three of them were when the sky turned dark and informed them that Lord Sun had summoned them. The three of them then left the courtyard with that person to pay their respects to Lord Sun...

Sun Bingchen. Male. Age unknown. Estimated to be above sixty years old!

Background: A commoner at birth who became an officer. Forty years later, he was promoted from a county magistrate to a patrol inspector of the empire. His reputation was renowned.

Famous history: During the 37th year of the Qianwu reign, Sun Bingchen was appointed as the prefectural governor of Danyang Prefecture of Lai Province. In the sixth lunar month of the same year, a group of about a hundred Shatu envoys arrogantly and unbridledly passed through Dayang Prefecture with a permit in their possession. On the 11th day of the sixth lunar month, the Shatu envoys entered Danyang City. On the 12th day of the sixth lunar month, there was a wedding in Danyang Prefecture. The bride’s escorts ran into those Shatu envoys who were leaving the city just outside of Danyang City. The Shatu people were laughing and fooling around – they obstructed the escorts, injured the groom and the other escorts, and pulled the bride out from her sedan. They then pulled off her veil and humiliated her through verbal and physical gestures. After the Shatu people left, the bride couldn’t bear the humiliation and committed suicide. The bride and groom’s families entered the city to appeal for justice while beating on a drum, taking the misconduct of those Shatu people to the court. As soon as Sun Bingchen received the news, he immediately brought six hundred armed cavalries on the very same night to chase after those Shatu envoys. After chasing about two hundred li in the night, they finally intercepted those Shatu envoys and managed to take them directly back to Danyang City after a battle.

The arrest of the Shatu envoys shook the world. Clowns and corrupted officials suddenly jumped out to criticize Sun Bingchen for intercepting the foreign envoys. They pointed out that such an act could potentially cause a war to break out between the empire and the Shatu people as it was a serious offense – ‘How could a mere prefectural governor like you dare to act as you please and cause a border war between the two nations? Release them at once!’ Quite a number of sanctimonious b*tches also made their appearances and tried to defend the Shatu people by explaining that the Shatu people had wild and bizarre cultures which differed from the empire, so intercepting a bride’s sedan and her escorts could be a part of the Shatu people’s customs and traditions, or perhaps they were just curious. There was no need to make a fuss, but instead, they believed that they should conduct themselves in an exemplary way and respect the Shatu people’s social customs. The death of the bride was suicide and it was irrelevant to the Shatu people. Therefore, fining them with a few taels of silver would suffice.

In the face of such an overwhelming situation, Sun Bincheng only spoke a few lines. “The people are the nation, and the empire owns millions of ironclad armies. If we can’t even protect a young woman in her wedding dress, then what is the use of those millions of armies? The Shatu people are the ones who started this. If I waited and gave in, that would only encourage them to reach out for a yard after taking an inch and become more brazen. Only by preparing for war can one prevent the war!” To those sanctimonious b*tches, Sun Bingchen’s response was simpler and coarser: “As a prefectural governor of the empire, I shall honor only the laws and decrees of my empire, not the customs and traditions of other tribes. For those who said that we should respect the Shatu people’s bizarre customs, let me ask you a question: If one day, the Shatu people claim that it is their custom to f*ck your mother, will all of you offer your dear mothers to these Shatu people for the sake of conducting yourselves in exemplary ways and respecting their culture?”

On the 15th day of the sixth lunar month, just three days after the arrest of the Shatu envoys, Sun Bingchen held a public trial in Danyang City. The Shatu envoys were convicted of injuring civilians from the prefecture, the harassment of civilian women, putting up resistance during an arrest, and also killing and injuring the prefecture’s soldiers. They were all sentenced to be beheaded and their severed heads were later hung above the entrance of Danyang City.

On the same day Sun Bingchen executed the Shatu envoys, he took off his official hat, robes, and his prefectural governor’s official seal. Then he waited at home for the imperial envoys from the Imperial Capital to denounce him by an imperial decree.

The imperial envoys came a few days later, but were unable to enter Danyang City because all four entrances were completely obstructed by the several hundred thousand citizens in the city. Upon knowing that the imperial envoys had come, countless citizens in Danyang City spontaneously gathered at the city gates to seal off all the streets, refusing to let the imperial envoys through to carry out the imperial decree.

Naturally, the imperial envoys weren’t able to carry out his mission without meeting Sun Bingchen.

The countenance of the imperial envoys who had come to Danyang City instantly contorted when they were reviled by the several hundred thousand citizens of Danyang City as they were denied entry to the city. Not only that, but they couldn’t buy anything or find a place to stay even though they had money. When places outside Danyang City knew that the imperial envoys had come, all the inns, restaurants, and food stalls were closed for the day. After only staying half a day outside Danyang City, those hungry and exhausted imperial envoys understood that they had to retreat. If Sun Bingchen were to be punished at a time like this, it would immediately cause a mass uprising in Danyang Prefecture, and those who came to carry out this task would probably not make it out alive from Danyang City. In the end, the imperial envoys had no choice but to leave Danyang Prefecture and return to the Imperial Capital with their tails between their legs...

In the end, the Shatu people also tried to cause some trouble at the borders. However, it was futile, so this matter was left unsettled.

From this matter alone, Sun Bingchen earned his renowned reputation as a prefectural governor who was upright and selfless. In the following decades, any foreign envoys who wished to pay tribute at the Imperial Capital would take a detour because no one dared to enter Danyang Prefecture...

At the same time, Sun Bingchen slowly made his way up from being the Prefectural Governor to a Provincial Governor in the following decades through his efforts and contributions. He was later transferred to the Imperial Capital where he served as the Deputy Minister of Imperial Household, and also the Great Scholar of Longyuan Pavilion. This time, he left the Imperial Capital as an imperial envoy and a patrol inspector to patrol the six provinces at the northwestern part of the empire. The moment he arrived at Gan Province, he caught wind of the incident in Pingxi Prefecture, so he took the initiative to go there.

Yan Liqiang walked through courtyards and winding corridors behind the rest while his mind kept recalling the piece of information he had heard from Shen Teng about Lord Sun.

To be honest, Yan Liqiang secretly revered these types of people, and his heart was filled with curiosity because he was about to meet Lord Sun.

After taking two or three turns, Yan Liqiang and the rest were brought to a drawing room entrance in a secluded courtyard.

“Reporting to my Lord, I have brought the three youths from Pingxi City’s martial arts academy here!” The person who brought them to the drawing room outside bowed to the study room and made his announcement.

As soon as he finished speaking, a heroic-looking imperial bodyguard in his thirties came out from the study room. He was dressed in leather armor and had a longsword hanging on his waist. He swept his glance over Yan Liqiang and the other two before nodding. “Follow me!”

Yan Liqiang and the other two exchanged glances, then followed the imperial bodyguard inside the drawing room with Shen Teng walking in front, Shi Dafeng in the middle, and Yan Liqiang behind them.

There was a huge screen at the entrance of the drawing room. On the screen was a depiction of a garden. Peonies of beautiful purples and brilliant reds filled the garden...

Passing through the giant screen and arriving in the drawing room, Yan Liqiang saw a healthy-looking elder dressed in green embroidered official robes. He was sitting upright on the top seat in the drawing room in an imposing manner. He watched the three people come into the drawing room with a dignified expression on his face.

That elderly man’s gaze was gentle like water. However, as soon as Yan Liqiang’s gaze met his, he instantly felt as though his entire body had turned into a sponge which could be instantly seen through from head to toe.

Impressive!

This was the first time Yan Liqiang had ever encountered a person like this. He couldn’t help but feel excited.

“Greetings, Lord Sun!”

Following the instruction given to them by the officer outside, Yan Liqiang and the others respectfully greeted the elderly man as soon as they met him.

The gap between the statuses of both parties was poles apart.

“Have a seat, make yourselves comfortable!” The Patrol Inspector gestured to the three of them to take their seats on the chairs in the drawing room with a smile on his face.

It was impossible for them to make themselves comfortable. Even Shi Dafeng, who was always carefree, couldn’t help but feel quite nervous. Shen Teng was so stiff that his back was as straight as a javelin when he was seated.

Perhaps because Yan Liqiang held too many secrets in his heart, he seemed to be particularly cautious in front of the world-famous figure. He sat on his chair and lowered his gaze in silence. He avoided making any eye contact with the Patrol Inspector.

“The moment I arrived in Pingxi City, I heard people talking about the three of you. I heard that you were the ones who released a signal first. I also heard that you were the top three candidates in Qinghe’s Martial Arts County Trial Examination. How extraordinary! You are all indeed young and promising!” The Patrol Inspector stroked his beard as he spoke to them with a smile.

“You are giving us too much credit, Sir. We merely did what were suppose to do. It hasn’t been that long since we joined the martial arts academy. We still have much to learn from our tutors there, so we dare not be complacent with ourselves!” Shen Teng gave him an appropriate and flawless response. He definitely had the potential to become a spokesman.

Prior to coming here, Yan Liqiang and the rest had discussed and agreed among themselves that if the Patrol Inspector spoke to them, both Yan Liqiang and Shi Dafeng would remain silent and they would let Shen Teng carry on the conversation.

“Hm, right. Young people should have confidence, but they also need to be humble. Let me guess, you must be Shen Teng!”

Not expecting the Patrol Inspector to know his name, Shen Teng’s cheeks were instantly tinted with an unusual red. He immediately stood up and bowed to him once again. “Yes, Sir. I am Shen Teng!”

“And you must be Shi Dafeng...” The Patrol Inspector smiled and pointed at Shi Dafeng.

Shi Dafeng took a deep breath, then abruptly stood up. “Yes, Sir. I am Shi Dafeng!”

“Then you should be Yan Liqiang!” The Patrol Inspector’s gaze fell on Yan Liqiang once again.

“Yes, Sir. I am Yan Liqiang!” Yan Liqiang stood up with his gaze still lowered as he mimicked Shen Teng and respectfully bowed to the Patrol Inspector again.

“I’ve heard more than once from others about the incident which transpired that night. Since the three of you had first-hand experience, I would like to hear from you all about the story from that night...”

Upon hearing the Patrol Inspector’s question, Shen Teng cleared his throat and gave him a concise summary of the entire incident from that night. The Patrol Inspector listened while nodding slightly, and he seemed to be listening rather attentively.

“Oh, I see.” The Patrol Inspector’s gaze fell on Yan Liqiang again after he finished listening. “So that means that you were the first one to see through that Shatu man’s disguise?”

“Yes, I just happened to be lucky. The Shatu man’s face was still fresh in my mind so I was luckily able to discover something fishy going on!”

“Is that so? For you to be able to see through someone’s disguise after meeting him only once and even at night when it was dim, it seems like you really have a good memory!” The Patrol Inspector nodded with a smile, then pointed to the screen at the entrance. “I believe you saw the screen at the entrance when you came in. Let me give you a test – how many peonies, fish, bees, and birds are there on the screen?”

Shen Teng and Shi Dafeng were stunned when they heard the Patrol Inspector’s question. Their hearts began to race wildly.

Most people would just take a glance at the screen when they entered. No one could possibly remember all those splendid details on the screen.

The drawing room instantly grew so silent that one could hear a pin drop. Shen Teng and Shi Dafeng suddenly felt their mouths going dry as they oddly became nervous. Both of them tried their hardest to recall, but they only managed to remember some vague details. They couldn’t answer the Patrol Inspector’s question at all.

Everyone’s gaze in the drawing room was directed at Yan Liqiang face...

Yan Liqiang didn’t expect to run into this kind of question after being summoned by the Patrol Inspector.

At this point in time, Yan Liqiang wasn’t thinking about that screen at the entrance. He was thinking about the intention behind Sun Bingchen’s question.

It was very obvious that the Patrol Inspector wanted to personally verify if he indeed possessed highly retentive memory and vision as these were the key factors which enabled him to see through the Shatu man’s disguise that night.

If he truly had such capability, then everything which transpired during the incident that night would make sense and no one would be able to find any flaws with it. However, if the Patrol Inspector didn’t believe that he possessed such ability, then what would he think of the incident from that night? If Yan Liqiang were in the Patrol Inspector’s shoes, how would he think of it?

Without a doubt, if he were in the Patrol Inspector’s shoes and discovered that he didn’t possess such vision and ability, he would definitely suspect that he was trying to stir up trouble in Pingxi Prefecture under someone’s instigation or perhaps he had some other motives...

The asymmetric information made it impossible for Yan Liqiang to predict what the Patrol Inspector would think or what kind of judgment he would make if Yan Liqiang were unable to exhibit his expected abilities. But he knew one thing for sure – if he couldn’t answer this question, the Pingxi Prefectural Governor would most likely know everything that happened in this drawing room in just the blink of an eye.

In the eyes of someone like Sun Bingcheng, he was nothing but an insignificant individual. For someone his caliber, he wouldn’t bother with Yan Liqiang. However, if Ye Tiancheng felt everything he had done that night was set up by someone else, then things could turn ugly. Based on Yan Liqiang’s understanding of Ye Tiancheng, he was definitely someone who would kill a thousand innocent people rather than let one person get away. He’d definitely not let him off the hook that easily. This was exactly what Yan Liqiang needed to prevent at all costs right now.

Over these few days after the incident, Ye Tiancheng never summoned the three of them. One of the possibilities was that Ye Tiancheng was busy cleaning up the mess in Pingxi City while thinking about how to deal with the aftermath by making the Wang Clan serve as a scapegoat. The other possibility was that Ye Tiancheng was thinking of settling the score after the incident had died down. Judging from the patience of people like them, the second possibility was probably higher.

While Shen Teng and Shi Dafeng were still racking their brains over the scenery on the screen at the entrance, Yan Liqiang’s thoughts were racing before he finally understood what was going on. At that instant, cold sweat instantly broke out on his back.

F*ck, he thought he was only here to meet the Patrol Inspector out of courtesy. Little did he expect a question during their conversation to turn out to be this dangerous.

Watching Sun Bingcheng’s smiling face made Yan Liqiang feel as though he was being watched by a demonic old fox through its squinted eyes. As expected, none of these officers who managed to achieve this position was a simpleton. Many people’s fates were decided during the course of this chat. If he was indeed a tool used by someone else, he’d definitely have no choice but to reveal himself at this moment.

“What’s wrong? You can’t recall, Yan Liqiang? Hoho, nevermind about it if you can’t recall. It was merely a random question, you don’t need to feel bothered. It’s indeed not easy to remember so many details on the screen with just a glimpse when you came in!” The Patrol Inspector lightly dismissed it.

“It’s not that I can’t recall. I was just caught slightly off-guard because I didn’t expect such a strange question from you, Sir!” Yan Liqiang smiled. He had to answer the Patrol Inspector’s question at all costs. Otherwise, he might get Shen Teng and Shi Dafeng into trouble too and Yan Liqiang absolutely didn’t wish to see that.

“Oh...?” The Patrol Inspector’s interest toward Yan Liqiang seemed to be piqued. He looked at Yan Liqiang with anticipation while Shi Dafeng and Shen Teng looked at Yan Liqiang in amazement from the side, rather unconvinced that Yan Liqiang could really remember the content on that screen after a single glance.

Yan Liqiang shut his eyes, and the scene he saw upon his entry emerged in his mind like a photograph. Every little detail on the screen was present before him. This was all thanks to the terrifying photographic memory he possessed ever since he imprinted the Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing Manual in his mind. His memory was so highly retentive that he could store everything in his brain like photographs after taking a single glance at them. Yan Liqiang had heard of this type of memory in his previous life. However, he didn’t expect that he would actually possess such an ability in his current life.

After shutting his eyes for only a few seconds, Yan Liqiang opened his eyes again as his face broke into a calm smile. “On the screen at the entrance, there are a total of 137 peonies of different colors, though I am unsure if some should be counted as flowers or as buds. There are also seventeen goldfish of different sizes in the pond, thirteen bees, and seven birds on the painting!”

Shi Dafeng stared at Yan Liqiang. The dumbstruck expression on his face could be translated into a single sentence –’Liqiang, tell me you are only bluffing right now and making wild guesses.’

The Patrol Inspector was smiling. “I took a quick glance when I entered just now too. I recall that there aren’t that many peonies on the screen. The number of goldfish in the pond seems to be incorrect too as there are only fifteen of them, and there are only eleven bees. However, the number of birds sounds about right...”

“Some peonies on the screen are already in full bloom but some are still buds. 114 of them are already in full bloom while twenty-three are still budding. When I said there are a total of 137 peonies of different colors, it includes those which are still budding. There may seem to be only fifteen goldfish in the pond on the surface, but there are actually another two which are more well-hidden. They are hiding under a lotus leaf in the pond, showing only their two little tails. Therefore, the total number of goldfish is seventeen, not fifteen. The same goes for the bees too; it may seem like there’s only thirteen of them on the surface, but another two are hidden among the peonies. One only has its semi-transparent wings visible in the painting while the other bee’s antennae are visible among the petals...”

Upon hearing Yan Liqiang’s explanation, Shi Dafeng and Shen Teng’s jaws dropped to the extent that entire fists could fit inside their open mouths. Both of them simply couldn’t believe Yan Liqiang managed to actually remember every detail on the screen after taking only a glance at it when he entered this place with them together. Furthermore, the entrance was quite poorly lit because only two rather dim lanterns were hanging at the corners of the entrance.

“Someone, bring that screen here...!”

At the order of the Patrol Inspector, the attendant who led Yan Liqiang and the rest inside here just now immediately carried the screen into the drawing room, allowing everyone to take a closer look under the light.

“One, two, three...” Shi Dafeng and Shen Teng could no longer hold themselves back as they started counting.

Including the flower buds, the total number of different colored peonies on the screen was indeed 137.

When both of them realized that the number of peonies was exactly the same as the figure Yan Liqiang said, both of them looked at him differently now.

Next, both of them also noticed the two little goldfish tails under the lotus leaf at the bottom right corner of the screen.

“Ah, where are those two bees?” Shi Dafeng couldn’t help but ask a question when he still couldn’t find those two bees after searching for them everywhere.

“One of them is behind the fourth petal to the left of that biggest pale yellow peony on the upper left corner. There’s a pair of semi-transparent wings there. Since the color of the bee’s wings is very similar to the flower, you won’t spot them unless you look carefully. The other bee is in the middle of that red peony at the center. You can’t see its body except for the pair of antennae poking out among the petals. If you look carefully, you will notice that its antennae are the same as the other bees...”

“Oh, you’re right!” Shi Dafeng suddenly exclaimed after taking a closer look.

At this moment, Shi Dafeng and Shen Teng were both completely convinced by Yan Liqiang. If word about this got out, who would believe such a marvelous ability actually existed?

Patrol Inspector Sun Bingchen clapped his hands, then laughed heartily. He looked at Yan Liqiang with an impressed gaze as he exclaimed his admiration, “I didn’t expect to find someone like you in Gan Province’s Pingxi Prefecture. No wonder those criminals couldn’t pull the wool over your eyes. You are indeed a promising youth...!”

Even the attendant who had carried the screen in took a few serious glances at Yan Liqiang as a strange look flashed across his eyes.

“You are flattering me, Sir!”

“As a Patrol Inspector that has roamed everywhere to observe the condition of people and looked out for any treacheries, I still lack a quick-witted personal attendant. Would you be willing to work for the nation and agree to serve me by my side, Liqiang?”

As soon as Sun Bingchen’s question came out from his mouth, the drawing room grew silent again. Shi Dafeng and Shen Teng were shocked by Sun Bingchen’s words before they could even snap back to reality...

“We are talking about being Sun Bingchen’s personal attendant over here. He’s a patrol inspector and an imperial envoy sent by the Imperial Capital. Liqiang, why didn’t you agree straight away? This is a chance to make a giant leap. If it was me, I wouldn’t think twice about it and I would’ve agreed right away. With someone important by your side, you might be an attendant today, but tomorrow, you might ascend as a high ranking officer in a flash. A lot of people would be envious...”

Shi Dafeng was extremely excited as he sat inside the carriage on his way back. He continued to talk incoherently about what had just happened despite having left the manor just a few moments ago. Even so, Shi Dafeng was still immersed in the previous scenario. He felt that everything from before was crazy and dramatic.

“I didn’t turn his offer down. I just need to go back and think about it first. If I become Lord Sun’s personal attendant, I will probably have to follow him and leave Gan Province. I want to discuss this with my father and ask for his opinion in regards to such a big decision...” Yan Liqiang smiled. As for Sun Bingchen’s decision, he felt that it was a bit abrupt. Even so, he understood that this was an opportunity that only came once in a blue moon.

It was rare to come across such an opportunity like this in a lifetime. In a sense, Brother Huan from his previous life and Sun Bingchen, whom he had just met, were both Yan Liqiang’s benefactors. With such lucky stars to provide guidance and help, he could struggle less for a few years and walk toward the shortcut to success and the fast lane to life development. One would require luck and the ability to grasp an opportunity when meeting such benefactors.

“Mm, indeed. You should discuss with your father first. The martial arts academy, on the other hand, is a matter of a short sentence and nothing else. If this lord speaks on your behalf, you definitely will not encounter any problems in joining those major sects. This isn’t a future that can be compared to as a Martial Warrior from the martial arts academy that has just gone through a progression!” Shi Dafeng said as he turned to look at Shen Teng who was silently sitting inside the carriage, “Hey, Shen Teng, why aren’t you saying anything?”

Feeling complicated, Shen Teng forced a smile on his face. He had an unnatural expression as he said, “I am still thinking about Yan Liqiang’s ability to remember everything on that folding screen with just a glance. Lord Sun is certainly a person who recognizes talent. If Liqiang follows Lord Sun, he will definitely be able to realize his ambition. I will congratulate Liqiang here first...”

Yan Liqiang glanced at Shen Teng and didn’t know how to comfort him at this point. Shi Dafeng was being careless and didn’t understand Shen Teng’s current state of mind. Yan Liqiang, however, was able to sense some kind of frustration and loss coming from Shen Teng. Those feelings stemmed from being compared to others. Born from a large clan in Qinghe County, Shen Teng, who had strict education since he was young, once again faded into dullness in front of Sun Bingchen in comparison to Yan Liqiang. The feelings of loss and frustration were naturally inevitable.

Even when the trio were already friends, this matter had no bearings on their friendship whatsoever.

The carriage’s first stop was near the Three Yuan Street. Shi Dafeng was the first one alight the carriage. He bid his farewell to Yan Liqiang and Shen Teng as he was about to return to his residence. Shen Teng lived somewhere else, so the carriage continued to rumble on as it turned toward the other direction. After about ten minutes, the carriage finally came to a halt.

“Liqiang, if you are really going to stay by Lord Sun’s side, will we be able to see you again next time?” Shen Teng had already raised the carriage curtain and was prepared to leave the carriage.

“We will see each other whenever we want to!”

“Mm, if you decide to leave, then the three of us should have a drink together some other time...”

“Alright!”

Shen Teng raised the curtain and hopped off the carriage.

“Brother Shen...” Yan Liqiang abruptly opened the carriage’s curtain and called out to Shen Teng.

As he was heading toward the distance, Shen Teng, who was already sinking to the depths of darkness, suddenly stopped. He turned around and looked at Yan Liqiang.

The lantern that was hanging in front of the carriage was able to brighten up the surrounding area around it.

“Some flowers bloom in spring, some in summer, some in autumn, and when the flowers have wilted, the plum flowers will bloom during winter. Every flower has a different blooming period and their own splendidness. Some will bloom earlier while others will bloom later. Some will bloom as soon as it’s spring, and some will even persist through snow and frost. Due to these reasons, the world is a fascinating place. I like peach blossoms that bloom on the third month of the lunar year. What kind of flower does Brother Shen like?”

Just when Shen Teng was still in a daze, Yan Liqiang gave him a smile and waved his hand before he pulled down the curtain, allowing the driver to continue the journey in a slow manner.

As Shen Teng watched the carriage with the lantern slowly vanish to the distance, he stood dumbfoundedly on the streets and immersed his thoughts with the words that Yan Liqiang had said. Gradually, his eyes glowed with a bit of energy before a smile finally creased on his face. He then muttered to himself, “I like Chrysanthemums...” After that, he let out a deep sigh, straightened his back, and returned to his residence...

...

Regardless of whether the motivational speech Yan Liqiang had in his previous life was of any use to Shen Teng or not, Shen Teng could have easily let a lot of things go if he had just looked at them from another perspective. In any case, Yan Liqiang had already done his best. Shen Teng and Shi Dafeng were two out of his small set of friends. He didn’t want this rare friendship to change in a bad way.

The carriage continued through the west gate of Pingxi City until it arrived at Wuyang Village at the foot of the mountain. Yan Liqiang then proceeded to get off the carriage and bid farewell to the driver. After he bought half a jin of cooked pork legs from a restaurant at the roadside, he then returned to the small courtyard he was renting while carrying those pork legs.

As soon as he opened the courtyard gate, Goldie, who had been staying inside the area, let out its tongue and rushed toward Yan Liqiang while biting its tail. It then continued to happily circle around Yan Liqiang for several rounds.

Everything was normal inside the courtyard. Looking at how Goldie was behaving, Yan Liqiang knew that no one had come to the little courtyard after he had left. Everything was safe in here.

The rabbit that the two of them had caught in the morning was still holed up under the pile of firewood. It was behaving well despite trembling in fear. The rabbit wasn’t dead yet and it didn’t try to run away. Goldie had been keeping a good watch on it since its captivity.

“Alright, you still haven’t had dinner yet, I bought you pig feet today. Let go of that rabbit. I don’t want to torture it anymore. Just let it go...”

“Woof woof...” Goldie was indeed Goldie. Upon hearing Yan Liqiang’s words, it quickly charged toward the pile of firewood and drilled under that spot. Within a few seconds, the rabbit was driven out from the firewood pile by Goldie and it swiftly ran out of the courtyard toward the mountain path outside. There were shrubs and bushes just behind the courtyard. As long as the rabbit was able to run out of the courtyard, it should have returned to the mountains.

After Goldie chased the rabbit away, it ran down the corridor while wagging its tail and proceeded to carry its dish by itself, placing it in front of Yan Liqiang. He smiled and petted its head before pouring all those cooked pork legs into its dish. While Goldie was delightfully chowing down its food, Yan Liqiang had already locked up the gates to the courtyard and he went to the deck chair in the corridor to lie down. He closed his eyes and recounted the things that happened today. The more he thought of it, the more he felt that everything was a bit too sudden. All of that had immediately disrupted the calm rhythm of his quiet life.

The problem was whether he should ride on this person’s coattails or not!

Without knowing why, at this moment, Yan Liqiang suddenly thought of the night that he had ranked first place amongst top three where Yan Dechang had drunkenly said those things in his dreams. He didn’t understand what sort of twist there was behind these events.

...

“Leader, those three young men from the martial arts academy have left the Chu Manor...”

At the same time when Yan Liqiang had just returned to Wuyang Village, inside the study of the Prefectural Governor’s Office in Pingxi City, a cowering man was reporting to the Prefectural Governor Ye Tiancheng about the entire meeting between Yan Liqiang’s group and Sun Bingchen.

Naturally, nothing could ever evade the eyes of the Prefectural Governor Ye Tiancheng – not even the entire event that had happened inside Chu Manor in Pingxi City.

As he listened to how Yan Liqiang was able to remember how many peonies and fish were on the folding screen, Ye Tiancheng, who was practicing his calligraphy in the study, stopped his brush for a while before returning to his normal self. He then calmly said, “I didn’t think that there would be someone amongst the students in the martial arts academy to have such good memory. Indeed, he is a genius and a rare one at that. Seems like that young man called Yan Liqiang had indeed noticed the unusual activities of those Shatu people. This Sun Bingchen went ahead and did what I intended to do. What happened after that?”

“Sun Bingchen wants to recruit that young man Yan Liqiang as his attendant. He didn’t agree right away as he said he wanted to go home and discuss with his father first...”

“Seems like the news from the Imperial Capital is true. This Sun Bingchen really had no one else to use. He even wanted to recruit a young man with a superficial quirk as his attendant!” Ye Tiancheng laughed in disdain. A cold gleam flashed in his eyes as he continued, “He brought less than a hundred people with him to the patrol inspection in Gan Province this time, including those honor guards. Does he think that he can fight the Ye Clan with that small number of people? How presumptuous...”

“Should we...”

“Let him be. The Law Enforcement Office has already filed the incident involving the Wang Clan as an ironclad case with irrefutable evidence. Sun Bingchen will never be able to pull a trick on this case even if he has the great skill to do so. Just keep a close watch on him and his attendants and that will do!”

“Understood!”

Ye Tiancheng picked up his brush and continued to dip his brush in ink. Moments later, four impressive and big letters appeared on the paper at the desk. Those four words were – boundless sea and sky!

Looking at those words, Ye Tiancheng a satisfying smile curved up his face...

...

After Yan Liqiang completed his morning regime of Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing Internal and External Cultivation, he moved on to start his first cultivation of the ‘Ten Dragons Ten Elephants Divine Technique’.

For a practitioner, their dantian was like a special factory; only those who owned this factory would be able to become the factory’s owner, and only then would they be considered a Martial Warrior. The fundamental reason as to why the establishment of dantian was important was because it could enable the cultivation of both internal and external martial arts. One could only truly step into the realm of profoundness once his dantian was established. This was to prevent the failure in the last step of cultivation and avoid the tragic outcome of achieving nothing.

The ‘arts’ in ‘martial arts’ referred to internal cultivation; the true Qi cultivated through the physical body of a human being. It was also the purest form of energy in the world that could be taken advantage of by other people. It indeed was the source of energy that could be harnessed inside a human body.

Yan Liqiang followed the instructions in the secret manual and sat in a full lotus position inside his room. He then began his cultivation after he calmed his breath.

Truth be told, Yan Liqiang was full of anticipation and curiosity toward his first internal martial arts cultivation. Even so, he was a bit nervous as well.

The first step of cultivating internal martial arts was to concentrate on the dantian through his breathing and guidance, grasping the existence of the void inside.

Most people regarded the first step as the hardest part. When many people established their dantians, which involved the stage where they had to concentrate on their dantian, they would waste a lot of days before they could get on the right track and truly sense the existence of their dantian. In the beginning, Yan Liqiang felt that it wouldn’t be easy to pass the stage of concentrating on his dantian. However, he didn’t expect that just by following the secret manual’s instructions, his consciousness would travel smoothly from his forehead to his philtrum, then through his throat, chest, and all the way down like splitting a bamboo without any obstructions after a moment of controlled breathing. It felt just like a lead ball being thrown into a well – that ball would continue to sink deeper into the water until it finally landed on the bottom of the well a few moments later.

When Yan Liqiang’s consciousness first entered his dantian, which was also known as Qihai, he was able to sense a boundless void in it. A large, ancient bronze cauldron could be seen floating above this space. This cauldron wasn’t some kind of treasure but a Qi cauldron that would appear after an individual had successfully established their dantian, signifying the successful attempt in doing so. The ability to harmonize the dantian and the spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth was also part of the foundation of the cultivation.

Yan Liqiang had no idea what other people’s Qi cauldrons were like, but he felt that the Qi cauldron in the vast Qihai seemed to be enormous and extremely dense.

With the presence of the Qihai and the Qi cauldron, Yan Liqiang felt that this was just the first step toward his cultivation. The second step would be to possess Qi sensation and gain the ability to control Qi with one’s consciousness.

Similarly, Yan Liqiang also heard that the second step wasn’t easy to complete. However, in his case, he only had to follow the secret manual’s instructions. After a moment, he could sense a vaguely discernable Qi aura inside the boundless Qihai. Through his control of his consciousness, this Qi aura could freely move around his Qihai like a breeze or wind.

The third step of this cultivation was to pull the Qi into the cauldron and refine it.

Under Yan Liqiang’s guidance and control, the vague Qi aura immediately went into the cauldron. It was then followed by the second Qi aura, and the third, and the fourth...

After he successfully caught all nine Qi auras, Yan Liqiang then continued to activate the Qi cauldron as per the instruction from the secret manual. The entire Qi cauldron inside his dantian began to slowly glow in a blue light, as if it had been caught in a fire. In just a flash, the nine Qi auras that had been put into the cauldron began to combine as one, becoming a blue vital Qi. The vital Qi then escaped from the cauldron like a blue silk thread and began spinning around the Qi cauldron inside the dantian...

Yan Liqiang then opened his eyes after he managed to condense the vital Qi.

He gazed around his room and realized that it was already bright outside his window. The whole morning had passed and it was already afternoon.

Yan Liqiang had officially started his path of cultivation for the entire morning and was able to successfully condense his vital Qi inside his Dantian. As he moved his consciousness, the first vital Qi he had condensed quickly traveled through Yan Liqiang’s meridians like a mischievous and nimble small beetle. The sensation of the vital Qi moving throughout his body was as if he had been shocked by electricity. It was numbing and it felt quite unusual.

After experimenting a few times, Yan Liqiang’s thrilled expression was written all over his face. He touched his lower abdomen and said, “Didn’t the people at the Hall of Scriptures of the Sword Divine Sect say that the ‘Ten Dragons Ten Elephants Divine Technique’ was extremely difficult to cultivate? The disciples that choose to cultivate this technique usually take a week up to half a month to condense the first vital Qi of the ‘Ten Dragons Ten Elephants Divine Technique’. Why is it so easy for me? There was no obstacle whatsoever. Within an entire morning, I was able to condense my first vital Qi. Could this be the effect of the Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing?”

Regardless of the reason, it would always be a good thing for cultivation to progress faster. Yan Liqiang decided not to struggle with this problem anymore as it was already late. He got out of bed with renewed vigor and after a brief preparation, he ordered Goldie to stay at the courtyard to guard his home while he went out of Wuyang Village. He went down the mountain and walked along the public road toward the docks of Pingxi City and bought a round-trip ticket to Qinghe County.

In the evening, Yan Liqiang was already standing at the town entrance of Liuhe Town.

“Ah, Liqiang is back from Pingxi City...”

“Liuhe Town’s first rank amongst the top three is back...”

When the townspeople saw Yan Liqiang back at in town, all of them greeted him with enthusiasm and smiles on their faces. As he passed by Butcher Liu’s meat stall, both father and son were smiling like rotten pears while bowing and scraping when they saw Yan Liqiang back in town.

Ever since he experienced the catastrophe of life and death last time, out of all the people in this town, he wished that Butcher Liu and his son would encounter misfortunes upon seeing their smiling faces. Most of the time they would not associate with each other very often. However, the uncles, aunts, and neighbors were deeply sympathetic toward the sufferings of the Liu Clan.

Yan Liqiang gave everyone smiles and nods as he warmly greeted them. After those past experiences, Yan Liqiang could now clearly see through the hearts of others. He understood what the fickleness of human nature meant. The expression he displayed on his exterior was calm and open-minded.

A bunch of kids even ran around and followed Yan Liqiang from behind as he walked back to the Yan Residence. “Brother Liqiang, can you teach us a few moves?”

“Alright, pay attention. Let’s start from the Horse Stance...” While the kids were watching, Yan Liqiang quickly demonstrated a standard action of squatting in a Horse Stance and he explained his own understanding of this move: “This is a basic skill. When you are able to squat for about four hours straight, I will teach you another move that’s more impressive. Each of you can compete for the top three in the future too...”

When the kids were satisfied, they decided not to bother Yan Liqiang anymore.

Before he could reach the gate to his home, Yan Liqiang saw a few chimney columns and a row of houses built from bricks and tiles with a brilliant sign that said ‘Yan Blades’ in front of him.

Compared to half a year ago, the scale of the Yan Clan’s blacksmith workshop had expanded to four times its original size. The Yan Clan bought the land that was originally located near the river, adding two more water hammers to their facilities. Yan Liqiang could also hear the clinking sounds in full swing coming from the workshop from afar.

Since many people lived in this area, the Yan Clan’s newly built courtyard was situated behind the blacksmith workshop. There were two gates in between the workshop and his house, and two smaller doors in the middle which connected the two areas. There was an alley situated in the middle as well.

When he approached the door to the blacksmith workshop, someone came out from inside. The first thing this person saw when he lifted up his head was Yan Liqiang.

“Ah, Young Master Yan...” Zhou Hongda, who was wearing a steward uniform, immediately expressed his surprise when he saw Yan Liqiang standing in front of him.

“Am I still able to make it for dinner at home?” Yan Liqiang rubbed his stomach as he flashed a smile at Zhou Hongda.

“Of course you can. I will go and arrange things for Young Master now...”

“Oh right, where’s my father?”

“He’s at the workshop. I will go call him...”

“No need. Please get on with your work, Steward Zhou. I will go inside by myself...”

Yan Liqiang smiled before he quickly went inside the blacksmith workshop.

Despite the cold weather, the blacksmith workshop was sweltering hot. Yan Dechang was wearing a short vest as he briefed a bunch of new recruits on how to use quench artifacts using oil...

“Father...” Yan Dechang only turned around when Liqiang called out. He was quite surprised to see his son again.

“Ah, Liqiang, why are you back?”

“Nothing, I just wanted to come home. Right, where’s Brother Tiezhu?”

Yan Dechang sighed, “Tiezhu went out to do something important. The weather has been cold for the past two days, so old people in particular have it hard during this time period. Because of that, his uncle-in-law passed away last night. When Tiezhu received the news early that morning, he and his daughter-in-law quickly went over to his uncle-in-law’s house to help out...”

...

Yan Liqiang’s return instantly enlivened the atmosphere in the Yan Residence’s courtyard. Mother Wu and a number of hired maids were busy preparing dinner for him inside the house.

Yan Liqiang specially asked someone to bring up a bottle of wine so that he and his father could have dinner and drink while they chatted. They continued their meal until the dead of night.

“I never thought that we could spend our days like this as father and son. During our most difficult times, I remember that you didn’t have any milk to drink, and I had to borrow some rice from Manager Xiong too. After working on the forge every day, I would make some rice gruel with a bit of salt for you. In just a blink of an eye, you’ve grown so much. Our days were spent in disruption...” Yan Dechang’s face was already red from drinking a bit of wine. He was slightly tipsy as he sighed.

“Oh right, Father, I came back this time because have something I want to discuss with you!” Yan Liqiang said as he put down his wine cup.

“What is it?”

“I met someone yesterday at Pingxi City...” Yan Liqiang proceeded to relay the story of how he met Sun Bingchen to Yan Dechang.

Upon listening to Yan Liqiang’s story, Yan Dechang seemed to have lost the tipsy feeling in his head in an instant. His eyes grew wider all of the sudden as he stared at Yan Liqiang. “Liqiang, you are not lying to me, are you? How does such an important officer like the Patrol Inspector still lack an attendant?”

“I am not lying to you, really. This is the reason why I rushed back home to discuss this with you...”

Yan Dechang’s expression quickly turned solemn...